Letter from the East India Company Envoy to Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in Tabreez, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company

Content

Letter from the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in Tabreez [Tabriz], to the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. of the East India Company, of 8 May 1827, which was received from the Foreign Office on 9 July 1827. In the letter, Macdonald Kinneir reports an audience with the Prince Royal of Persia, Abbas Meerza [Crown Prince of Persia, ʿAbbās Mīrzā A title of honour originally applied to princes, later to military leaders, and later still to secretaries, chieftains, and other ‘gentlemen’. Qājār], held whilst Russian armies are reportedly marching on the frontier with Persia. During the audience the Prince Royal requests that the British supply the Persians with a subsidy as stipulated by Anglo-Persian treaty relations, which Macdonald Kinneir denies on the basis that Persia opened hostilities against Russia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828]. The letter details the Prince Royal’s response to this refusal, in which he: indicates that Persia was responding to sustained Russian aggression on the frontier between Russia and Persia; argues that Persia has the right to defend its territorial integrity; and expresses his frustration at perceived failures by the British to uphold their treaty obligations to Persia. Macdonald Kinneir also reports that he dissuaded the Prince Royal from dispatching an envoy to London, and expresses his concern that failure by the British Government to intercede on Persia’s behalf in the crisis would pose a risk to British influence in Persia.

The letter originally enclosed letters from the Prince Royal to the President of the Board of Control Formally known as the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, it was established by an Act of Parliament in 1784 to supervise the activities of the East India Company. , Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, and to the Chairman of the Court of Directors The London-based directors of the East India Company who dealt with the daily conduct of the Company's affairs. of the East India Company, forwarded at the request of the Prince Royal (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/70/223-224).

Extent and format

1 item (6 folios)

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Letter

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity.

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

IOR/L/PS/9/70/222

History of this record

Date(s)

8 May 1827-9 Jul 1827 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

Russo-Persian War (1826-1828)Bilateral relationsSubsidies

People & organisations

East India Company Envoy to PersiaEast India Company, Court of Directors, Secret CommitteeCrown Prince of Persia, Qajar dynasty

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Letter from the East India Company Envoy to Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in Tabreez, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/9/70/222, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100038378586.0x00036d> [accessed 28 August 2024]

Link to this record

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100038378586.0x00036d

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