‘File 5/104 II,III Miscellaneous slave trade correspondence’

Content

The volume contains correspondence and papers related to miscellaneous slave trade correspondence:

• Correspondence between the Deputy Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. and the 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 Muscat (Major Lionel Haworth) relating to an incident in June 1917, in which a pearl diver sought refuge at the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. in Muscat (folios 15-16). The Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. sent instructions to 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. Agent at Sharjah (‘Īsá bin ‘Abd al-Latif) about how to treat pearl divers seeking refuge, who may be indentured to their boat captains, but are not technically slaves (folio 13);
• Memorandums sent by the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in 1926 (Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Prideaux) to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Political Agents, request that any manumission cases forwarded to him in future contain information on the slave’s ethnic origins, native tongue, and any evidence of harsh treatment or branding (folios 31, 32). This information was required to assess the validity of a slave’s claims, for example if they claimed to have been ill-treated, or were recent importations into the region;
• Correspondence relating to a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. , intercepted by British vessels off the Arab coast in 1928, found to be carrying four slaves (folios 43-48);
• Correspondence concerning the escape of five slaves from the shaikh of Bakha to Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām], 1934, and the shaikh’s pursuit of the escaped slaves with fifteen men, some of them armed (folios 55-66);
• An enquiry in 1934 from Dr Samuel Zwemer of New York, sent to the British authorities in the Gulf, requesting copies of papers for a man who was formerly a slave from Africa, but was manumitted in Muscat in 1896. The former slave, who now resided in New York, has lost his manumission papers, but desired to return to East Africa (folios 68-71).

Extent and format

1 volume (77 folios)

Arrangement

The original handwritten indexes to the two surviving subject files are retained [folios 2-5, 10-12]. Subject files subsequently destroyed have been struck through on these content lists. Each of the surviving subject files retain their original title cover sheet. The file has been arranged in approximate chronological order, from earliest correspondence at the front to the latest at back.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using circled numbers in the top-right corner of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. . Some pages are marked with an earlier foliation system, expressed as page x of subject y.

Foliation anomalies: 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 51b (no 51a), 58a.

Written in

English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script

Type

Archival file

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/R/15/1/202

Former external reference(s)

A series: 5/104 II, III

History of this record

Date(s)

9 Dec 1913-27 Jan 1935 (CE, Gregorian)

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‘File 5/104 II,III Miscellaneous slave trade correspondence’, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/202, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/9372> [accessed 19 April 2024]

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https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100000000193.0x0000af

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