Aden Affairs [‎341r] (39/104)

Content

Copies of correspondence, minutes and other papers relating to British administration of Aden subsequent to its capture by the British in January 1839, chiefly instructions from the Government of India to Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Aden.

The papers mainly concern:

• Arrangements for security and policing in Aden in light of recent attacks and robberies allegedly committed by ‘marauding parties’ of Bedowins [Bedouins], including proposal for an ‘Arab Mounted Police’ and the expediency of utilising Arabs for this purpose
• Stipends or allowances to be paid by the British to certain Arab chiefs in return for the latter guaranteeing to protect the roads and communications into the interior, including limits on the amount to be expended by Haines and the terms and conditions of payments
• Reimbursement of Haines’s expenses incurred in paying stipends and entertaining Arab chiefs visiting the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
• Deferment of a decision regarding claims by Arab chiefs for loss of tribute previously received from port duties prior to the British capture of Aden
• Proposal to send three captured Turkish brass guns to Queen Victoria in England
• Views of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Dickinson, Chief Engineer at Bombay [Mumbai], on Captain Robert Foster’s plans for the fortification of Aden and construction of new buildings (ff 355-358)
• Petitions from the merchants of Aden to the Governor in Council, regarding heavy customs duties levied on goods using the port, considering former British promises to abolish them for five years (ff 360 and 362), including table of duties charged on goods imported and exported by sea and transiting to and from the interior (ff 371-372)
• Letter from Shiekh Kasim Bin Sueed of Surhub [Shaikh Qasim bin Sa'id al-Sharjabi] to the Governor in Council requesting British assistance in his hostilities against ‘the Turks’ [Ottomans].

The principal correspondents are: John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government in India, and Thomas Herbert Maddock, Officiating Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General.

There is a note before the papers commence stating: ‘Enclosure in Bombay Secret Letter No. 59, dated 8th May 1839, is missing from this collection’.

Extent and format

1 item (50 folios)

Arrangement

The papers are not in chronological order.

Written in

English in Latin script

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