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‘Political Diary 1894’ [‎7v] (18/310)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (154 folios). It was created in 13 Dec 1893-29 Dec 1894. It was written in English. The original is part of the 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. .

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Content

The volume is a diary, created by 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. staff, and recording events taking place at Bushire, in southern Persia, and around the shores of the Gulf, between December 1893 and December 1894. The places from which reports have been received by 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. include: Bahrain, Bassidore, Bushire, Fao [Al-Fāw], Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh], Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], Muscat, Sharjah and Shīrāz, this latter place dominating the year’s reports.

The following subjects comprise the contents of the Political Intelligence sections of the diary:

  • Meteorological observations, including storms and high winds, and subsequent floods and high river levels. Of particular note is the extensive damage caused by rain and floods in Shīrāz in February and March 1894, resulting in shortages of supplies and rising prices;
  • Political affairs, including the movements and actions of royal dignitaries and government officials, tax collection, political intrigues, relations between neighbouring tribes (including raids on villages and caravans, murder, blood feuds, tribute), and civil unrest, in: Persia (with continued reference to the worsening economic situation in Shīrāz); Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. (including Katiff [Al-Qaṭīf], Hasa [Al-Hasa] and Katr [Qatar]); and the Arab coast and Muscat;
  • Disease, chiefly the instances of outbreaks of cholera, smallpox and fever, with some details of the estimated numbers of fatalities and the duration of outbreaks;
  • The movements of travellers and visitors to the Gulf, in particular Europeans (French and Russians) and Americans;
  • Issues relating to the Gulf’s telegraph link, including storm damage to the line, administration of the telegraph offices, employees at telegraph offices;
  • The movements of British and foreign vessels;
  • Agriculture, including harvest yields and locust movements, and the damage inflicted on crops by locusts;

Many of the pages in the diary have been amended, with strikethroughs, deletions and additions in ink, and comments added in pencil or red ink, suggesting that the original entries were checked, commented on, amended, and signed off by senior 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. staff, including the Resident, Colonel Frederick Alexander Wilson (signed as ‘F.W.’), and the Officiating Resident (signed as ‘J.F.W.’; possibly Lieutenant John Frederick Whyte).

Extent and format
1 volume (154 folios)
Arrangement

The diary is arranged in chronological order, from the earliest entries at the front of the volume to the latest at the rear. The majority of the diary is arranged under the heading VI Political Intelligence, with daily entries listed underneath. Other headings which appear are: I. Office Correspondence, English Office, Receipts; II. Office Correspondence, English Office, Issues; III. Office Correspondence, Vernacular Office, Receipts; and IV. Office Correspondence, Vernacular Office, Issues. Correspondence is listed by date under each of these headings.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: The volume’s main foliation sequence begins on the front cover and ends on the inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. . A second foliation sequence is present between ff. 1B-151; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence. The following anomalies in the main foliation sequence occur: 1, 1A, and 1B.

Condition: There is insect damage to some pages in the volume, in the form of small holes, none of which are sufficient to impair the legibility of page contents.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Political Diary 1894’ [‎7v] (18/310), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/194, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023493150.0x000013> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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