"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٧‎٧] (١٧٨٢/٢٢٠)

77
The East India Company's Establishments in the Persian Gulf,
1653-1722.
Ihe estalilishmeuts of the East India Company in Persia fluctuated Staff.
dllring , this period according to the state and prospects of trade. Once in
I664 ; aswe have seen, the staff in Persia was reduced to two Europeans,
and, up to 1GB1 at least, there was no permanent European establishment in
Turkish 'Iraq. In 1682, when an attempt was made to place the Persian
trade on a better footing, Mr. John Gibbs was appointed to be Agent in
I ersia with a Council of four to assist him, of which the members were to
succeed to the Agency, should it become vacant by death or removal, in
order of seniority. In 1693, when the aspect of affairs had begun to
improve, the staff in Persia was augmented so as to consist of a
Chief Agent, four Factors and four Writers • and at this strength it
appears to have stood afterwards, unless the two Factors specially sent to
Tabriz and Mashhad in 1696 were, as seems not improbable, additional
employes. In 1676 there was a " Chyrurgeon at Bandar ■'Abbas,
a Mr. Samuell Carleton, whose relations with the other Company's servants
occasioned great trouble; and, from various references to " Europe wine "
sent from India for Padres," it might be supposed that the staff in Persia
were not without a chaplain ; but, on the other hand, burials seem to have
been generally conducted by themselves, so that by " Padres " foreign priests
or missionaries may have been meant.* There is nothing to show that
the Company's employes in the Persian Gulf were ever accompanied by
their wives or children.
Bandar 'Abbas was at first the principal Factory in Persia, and the Stations.
Factory building at that place was a gift from the Shah, standing between
the purchased premises occupied by the Dutch and the French. For a time,
perhaps, the establishments at Shiraz and Isfahan were either closed or
maintained on a reduced scale; but Mr. Craddock, when he was sent as
Agent to Persia in 1662, was authorised to spend some months of each
year at Shiraz or Isfahan, because " Death hath been so familiar in those
parts, caused by ill aire, staying so long in it at Gombroon and in 1684
it was expressly ordered that two of the Council should remain constantly
at Isfahan to watch the Company's interests there. In 1692 Isfahan was
selected as the centre at which Writers in Persia were to be trained; and
in 1693, when augmentation of the staff took place, the Chief Agent was
given liberty to reside at Isfahan or at Bandar 'Abbas as he pleased, and
* One of these Padres, however, was named Barnabj and drew a bill of exchange
upon the Company (1661).