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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1873' [87r] (180/670)
The record is made up of 1 volume (332 folios). It was created in Dec 1872- Dec 1873. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
121
(Confidential, No. 24.)
^ “rfonns me
al) ‘Coast
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J ^effectof
Abstract of Letters received from
Aden,
March 17 th and \§ th , 1873.
February ^nd. No. 234.
Slave Trade in Egypt and the Red Sea. (See pp. 64c and 100.)
Abyssinian Affairs.
The Resident at Aden to the Secretary to
Government of Bombay
From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions.
,
February 212nd. —I forward copy of a letter from my First Assistant,
Captain Prideaux. I concur with him in thinking that the presence
of a Consul at Massowah (see p. 64^), who should be an English
gentleman of some experience in Eastern life, is absolutely necessary
to represent British influence, if Government desires to see the
extinction of the slave trade in the Red Sea.
Captain Prideaux to the Resident at Aden, February V^th .—
During my recent visit to Massowah I could not fail to be impressed
with the unexpectedly prominent position which the Red Sea slave
traffic occupied in the mind of nearly every one with whom I was
brought in contact.
I learned, on what I consider to be trustworthy authority, that
about a fortnight before my arrival the Governor’s Deputy, Abdallah
Effendi, had called together the principal brokers, and had informed
them that an English vessel was shortly expected at the port, and that
the greatest circumspection on their part was necessary. I was further
informed that, since this warning had been given, no direct exportations
had been made; but I was assured that, whilst we were in harbour,
about 120 slaves, who had recently been brought by the kafilas, were
concealed at two villages about four miles distant from Massowah,
and that, if I would go with a party of marines and seamen to
these villages, the whole of the slaves might without difficulty be
liberated.
It was a matter of common conversation (see p. 64o) that, a few
months ago, the Khedive’s mother had procured a large number of
slaves of both sexes, who were conveyed from Massowah to Suez in
a Government steamer. The principal mover in this matter was, I
am informed, one Tahir Agha, an eunuch belonging to Her Highness’s
household, who despatched two subordinate officers to Zaila, vid Aden,
for the purpose of purchasing a large number at that port, whence
14540. Z z
About this item
- Content
Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the 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. from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1873. The letters are dated December 1872-December 1873. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:
- Abstracts of Letters received from India
- Abstracts of Letters received from Sir B Frere
- Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
- Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
- Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
- Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar, Bushire [Bushehr] and Aden
- Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
- Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire.
Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:
- Arrangements for preserving the historical records of the Government of India
- Judicial affairs, including the detention of Kooka [Namdhari/Kuka Sikh] insurgents as political prisoners and the question of jurisdiction over British subjects in Persia [Iran] and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- Land issues, including plantations of tea, cinchona, and opium poppy, exploration for coal deposits, and land revenue settlements
- Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
- Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
- Public works, including railways, canals and irrigation
- Education
- Telegraphy, including international telegraphic links with India
- Affairs concerning Princely States, including issues of succession, internal administration, the education of heirs, debts, and railways
- Anticipated famine in Bengal
- Issues concerning emigration from India to British, French, and Dutch colonies, including the proposed emigration of Indian labourers to Fiji
- Military affairs, including the organisation and supply of military units
- Military operations, including an expedition in the Garo Hills and counter-insurgency operations against the Moplahs [Mappilas] in Malabar
- Affairs in Persia, including: requests from the Persian Government for seconded Prussian and French army officers; frontier disputes between Persia and Turkey; the arbitration of the Mekran [Makran] and Seistan [Sistan] borders; a proposed railway from the Caspian Sea to Teheran [Tehran]
- Affairs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Arabian Peninsula, including: conflict in Nejd [Emirate of Najd] between Saood [Sa’ūd bin Fayṣal Al Sa’ūd] and Abdullah [‘Abdullāh bin Fayṣal Al Sa’ūd]; the Turkish [Ottoman] occupation of Lahsa [Al Hasa] and suspected Turkish designs on the Gulf coast; and the slave trade
- Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, in particular Turkish activity in the region
- Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, in particular the consolidation of and challenges to the rule of the Sultan Syud Toorkee [Sayyid Turkī bin Sa’īd Āl Bū Sa’īd]
- Affairs in Zanzibar, including the slave trade, the Zanzibar Subsidy to Muscat, and contact with the mission of Dr David Livingstone in Central Africa
- Affairs in the Red Sea, including the illegal destruction of dhows by the British ship Thetis and suspected Egyptian designs on Berbera,
- Sir Bartle Frere’s mission to investigate the slave trade in East Africa, negotiations with the Sultans of Zanzibar and Muscat for treaties to suppress the slave trade, and recommendations for other anti-slavery measures
- Affairs in 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. [Ottoman Iraq], including the administration of Reouf Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Muḥammad Ra'ūf Pāshā], a steamer service operated by the British India Steam Navigation Company between Bussora [Basra] and Bagdad [Baghdad], and a prohibition on the export of Arab horses
- Affairs in Central Asia, including: arbitration of the northern border of Affghanistan [Afghanistan]; discussions with Russia concerning spheres of influence in the region; affairs in Eastern Turkestan [Xinjiang] and the proposed expedition of Thomas Forsyth to Yarkund [Yarkant]; a Russian expedition against Khiva; the visit to India of envoys from Affghanistan and Bokhara [Bukhara]
- Affairs in Burmah [Burma/Myanmar]
- Affairs in Siam [Thailand], Nipal [Nepal], and Thibet [Tibet]
- The Panthay Rebellion in China.
The primary correspondents are:
- The Government of India
- The Viceroy and Governor-General of India
- The Resident at Aden
- 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 the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- 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
- 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 Zanzibar
- Sir Bartle Frere.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (332 folios)
- Arrangement
The abstracts are arranged in roughly chronological order. A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 323-329.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 332; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1873' [87r] (180/670), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA13, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100138597906.0x0000b5> [accessed 2 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/CA13
- Title
- 'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1873'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:57v, 58ar:58av, 58r:332r
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence