Letters from Harford Jones to Jonathan Duncan

Content

Two letters from Harford Jones, Resident in Baghdad, to Jonathan Duncan, President and Governor in Council of Bombay [Mumbai], sent from Bagdad [Baghdad] and dated 29 November 1798 and 2 December 1798.

Jones forwards two letters with information from French-occupied Egypt:

1. A translation of a letter from Taleb Aga [Āghā], a resident of Acca [Acre], to Saleh Kiumchee [?], a Damascus merchant. The letter forwards reports regarding the French campaign in Egypt, including:

• Reports that English ships off Alexandria have intercepted French dispatches to the Directory, describing illness among the French troops in Egypt and attacks by ‘Arabs’ [tribes] and asking for support
• Reports that the inhabitants of Cairo have risen up against the French occupation forces, killed a large number including General Napoleon Bonaparte, and driven them out of the city where the Kia A deputy or lieutenant of the governor in Ottoman Iraq, with additional responsibilities as a high-ranking provincial judge. [deputy] of Beikir Pashaw [Abū Bakr Pāshā or Ebubekir Paşa, Ottoman Governor of Egypt] has now taken control of the castle [Citadel].
• The arrival of Turkish reinforcements in Acca from Constantinople [Istanbul].

2. A translation of a letter from the Diwan Effendisi (Secretary) of the Pashaw [Sulaymān Pāshā Āl Kabīr, Governor of Baghdad] to Jones, received 2 December 1798. The letter forwards reports received from Egypt via Damascus that, following the imposition of a poll tax, the inhabitants of Cairo have risen up against the French occupation forces, killed a large number including General Bonaparte, and driven them out of the city, where the Kia A deputy or lieutenant of the governor in Ottoman Iraq, with additional responsibilities as a high-ranking provincial judge. of Bekir Pashaw has taken control.

Extent and format

1 item (4 folios)

Written in

English in Latin 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/L/PS/9/76/46

History of this record

Date(s)

29 Nov 1798-2 Dec 1798 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

French Campaign in Egypt and the Levant (1798-1801)French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1800)

Places

Egypt

People & organisations

Resident, BaghdadNapoleon I

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Letters from Harford Jones to Jonathan Duncan, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/9/76/46, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100109378674.0x000001> [accessed 21 July 2026]

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