Persian Affairs

Content

This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. [Mumbai] Secret Department 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. , Number 118 of 1846, dated 14 October 1846. The enclosures are numbered 3-4 and are dated 14 to 15 August 1846, and relate to Persian [Iranian] affairs.

Enclosure No. 3 consists of a letter from HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at the Court of Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. , forwarding under flying seal Letters which could be freely opened before reaching their destination. a letter to the Secretary to the Government of India, enclosing copies of despatches addressed by Sheil to HM Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Aberdeen, dated 20 July to 10 August 1846. It also includes one letter from Sheil to HM Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Sir Stratford Canning, dated 10 August 1846.

The despatches concern matters including:

• Sheil raising the claims for compensation of Hajee Noor-ood-deen [Ḥājī Nūr al-Dīn], a British subject, with the Persian Government
• The Persian Government having built up a ‘considerable’ artillery at Tehran, with Sheil enclosing a list of the guns and ordnance stores in the arsenal at Tehran
• An outbreak of cholera in Tehran
• The death from cholera of Meerza Abul Hassan Khan [ Mīrzā A title of honour originally applied to princes, later to military leaders, and later still to secretaries, chieftains, and other ‘gentlemen’. Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shirāzī, Īlchī-yi Kabīr], Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Sheil’s preference for his successor
• The Persian Government having been persuaded not to recall the Persian Minister at Erzeroom [Erzurum], Meerza Tekkee Khan [ Mīrzā A title of honour originally applied to princes, later to military leaders, and later still to secretaries, chieftains, and other ‘gentlemen’. Taqī Khān Farāhānī, also known as Amīr Kabīr], following an attack on him in which he nearly lost his life, two of his servants were murdered, and his property was stolen; and the Persian Prime Minister, Hajee Meerza Aghassee [Ḥājī Mīrzā A title of honour originally applied to princes, later to military leaders, and later still to secretaries, chieftains, and other ‘gentlemen’. (ʿAbbās Īravānī) Āqāsī], instead instructing him to seek redress for these events from the Turkish [Ottoman] Government, and in anticipation of this being readily accorded, to sign the treaty with the Porte
• The Russian Minister to Persia, Prince Dolgorouki [Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorukov] having addressed a ‘violent and personally threatening’ letter to Hajee Meerza Aghassee, calling on him to disavow in writing language which had been attributed to him, as well as any intention of going to war with Russia, which the Persian Prime Minister had complied with
• The Court of Spain attempting to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Persian Government
• The intention of the Russian Government to send a war steamer from Astracan [Astrakhan] twice a month laden with merchandise to the coast of Asterabad [Gorgan], and the opposition of the Persian Ministers to repeated visits of a Russian war ship to the Persian Coast
• The Shah [Muḥammad Shāh Qājār] complaining to Sheil about the encroachments of Russia in the direction of Asterabad.

Sheil’s despatches include enclosed copies of the following: correspondence between Sheil and Meerza Abul Hassan Khan; autograph letters from the Shah to Hajee Meerza Aghassee; correspondence between Prince Dolgorouki and Hajee Meerza Aghassee; and letters from Aghassee to Meerza Tekkee Khan and Sheil.

Enclosure No. 4 is a letter from Sheil to the Secretary to the Government of India, dated 5 August 1846, informing him, for the information of the Governor-General, of the death of Meerza Abul Hassan, in view of him having been a pensioner of the British Government.

Extent and format

1 item (67 folios)

It is part of

‘ENCLOSURES TO SECRET LETTERS FROM BOMBAY’, Vol 84

1162 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/5/446

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Archival item

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/5/446, ff 171-237

Former external reference(s)

No. 118 of 1846

History of this record

Date(s)

14 October 1846 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

CholeraDeathCompensationDiplomacyTreatiesArtilleryWarships

Places

PersiaTehranAsterabad

People & organisations

HM Ambassador to IranSecretary of State for Foreign AffairsMinister for Foreign AffairsPrime Minister to the Shah of PersiaGovernment of the Ottoman EmpireRepresentative of the Russian Empire to PersiaGovernment of the Russian EmpireShah of Persia

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Persian Affairs, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/5/446, ff 171-237, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100145096946.0x00000b> [accessed 2 October 2024]

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