"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٦‎٦‎١] (١٧٨٢/٨٠٤)

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For the purpose of concluding preliminary arrangements,* Captain
G. Forster Sadleir of His Majesty's i7tii Regiment had already been des
patched from Bombay, on the 14th of April 1819, with letters for Saivid
Sa^id and Ibrahim Pasha. The instructions of this officer were that he
should call at Masqat, and, after making known to the Saiyid the nature
* A b it has been stated information about Captain Sadleir is not now procurable,
the present writer takes the opportunity of placing on record some facts which he has
been able to collect regarding the forgotten career and personality of a remarkable
officer.
George Forster Sadleir was born at Cork on the 19tb January 1789. His father>
James Sadleir, who belonged to aTipperary family, purchased an estate named Shannon
Vale and was at one time High Sheriff of the city of Cork. His mother was a Misg
Porster, and his second name was derived from her family. He had two brother«, of
whom the younger, Richard, served in the Royal Navy.
Sadleir joined the Army as Ensign on the 4th April 1805; he was promoted
Lieutenant in the same year, Captain in 1813, and Major in 1830; and lie retired
from the service, by sale of his commission, on the 17th February 1837. He saw
military service at Monte Video and Buenos Ayres in 1807 ; from April 1812 to June
1815 he was engaged, with twelve sergeants from his Regiment, in training the Shah's
troops iu Persia, in acknowledgment of which he was suDsequently awarded a
Parman and sword of honour from Patch 'Ali Shah ; he took part in tlie Malwa cam
paign, Centrallndia, and was employed in a political capacity under Sir J. Malcolm,
1817-18 ; in 1819-20, he carried out the mission in Arabia, described in our text, for the
charge of which be was recommended by the Government of India to the Government
of Bombay; in 1820-21 he was sent as Envoy to Sind and concluded the " Treaty of
Hyderabad on the Indus," and in 1824-26 he discharged the duties of M:ajor of
Brigade with the Bengal Division of the British army in Burma.
He returned to Europe in 1833 or 1834, probably not for the first time since his
departure for the East, for on the 20 th March 1826 he had been enrolled as a
Freeman of Cork. After his retirement he married, probably in 1847 or 1848, a
Miss Kidings of Cork, her brother also marrying his sister; and about 1855 he
emigrated to New Zealand. He died in Auckland before 1868.
A personal touch is supplied by an officer of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
who writes : « Sadlier was a great linguist, but a man of violent temper, and he was the
" cause of Colonel Elrington being tried by Court Martial, as he reported the Regiment
" to be in a mutinous state on the line of march in Scotland, when he was m command.
" It was in the year 1834,. and the Batta allowance was given in kind (bread) in Scotland
" instead of money, and the men could not understand this and stuck the loaves on their
" bayonets."
Whether his name was spelt " Sadleir" or " Sadlier " must be considered doubtful:
possibly it was written in both ways. An extract copied from the Freeman 's Roll o
Cork gives " Sadlier "; but " Sadleir " is the form found in the records of the War Office
and that favoured by most of his surviving relatives and friends. It is believed that
no male representative of the family bearing the name of Sadleirfor Sadlier Is flow
alive.
Mission of
Captain
Sadleir, April
1819 to
January
1820.