Author
Nathaniel Whitwell
Publication Date
1 Aug 1746-31 Jul 1752 (CE, Gregorian)
Type
Document
Language
ara,eng
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Pages Count
395
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
IOR/G/29/7
Record ID
vdc_100000001251.0x000364
Library Location
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.
Date
1 Aug 1746-31 Jul 1752 (CE, Gregorian)
Notes
Diary, consultations, and accounts of the East India Company merchants in Persia [Iran], specifically factories at Gambroon [Bandar-e ʻAbbās, Laristan, Iran], written and signed by Nathaniel Whitwell (Agent and Council) and Henry Savage (succeeding Agent and Council) respectively, countersigned by various officials, St George Pack (Steward), Walter Ray, Thomas Dorrill (Warehouse Keeper), Danvers Graves, John Hope (Steward and Secretary), Cowan Henry Draper, and Francis Wood (Steward). Comprised of multiple dispatches spanning the period 1 August 1746-31 July 1752, with a supplementary account on the affairs at the Persian court:
Folios 4r-78r. Dispatch copying the Gambroon diary, consultations, and accounts, written and signed Nathaniel Whitwell (Agent and Council) and Henry Savage (succeeding Agent and Council), countersigned by St George Pack, Thomas Dorrill (Warehouse Keeper), Danvers Graves, John Hope (Steward and Secretary), covering period 1 August 1746-31 July 1747. Received 3 August 1749, by ship
Orford
. Title page lost
Folios 79r-99r. Dispatch copying the supplementary account entitled ‘Journal of the most material Occurrences During Nadir Shaw’s Residence at Carmenia [Kerman],’ written and signed by Danvers Graves, covering period 26 February 1747-23 March 1747
Folios 101r-170v. Dispatch copying the Gambroon diary, consultations, and accounts, written and signed Henry Savage (Agent and Council), countersigned by Danvers Graves, John Hope (Steward and Secretary), covering period 3 August 1747-31 July 1748. Received 3 August 1749, by ship
Orford
. Title page lost
Folios 171r-250v. Dispatch copying the Gambroon diary, consultations, and accounts, written and signed Henry Savage (Agent and Council), countersigned by John Hope (Steward and Secretary), and Cowan Henry Draper, covering period 1 August 1748-31 July 1749. Original dispatch received 13 September 1749, by ship
Drake Ketch
. Present copy received 13 June 1750, by ship
Durrington
. Title page, ‘Gambroon Diary and Consultations’ (f 171r)
Folios 251r-335v. Dispatch copying the Gambroon diary, consultations, and accounts, written and signed Henry Savage (Agent and Council), countersigned by Danvers Graves, Cowan H Draper, and Francis Wood (Steward), covering period 1 August 1750-31 July 1751. Received 15 August 1752, by ship
Eastcourt
. Title page lost
Folios 336r-392v. Dispatch copying the Gambroon diary, consultations, and accounts, written and signed Henry Savage and Danvers Graves (Agent and Council), countersigned by Francis Wood (Steward), St. George Pack, and Walter Ray, covering period 1 August 1751-31 July 1752. Received 18 June 1753, by ship
Stretham
. Title page lost.
Accounts cover the movements and changes between EIC officials at Gambroon; movements and changes between EIC officials at Shiraz, Carmenia or Carmania [Kerman], Busheir [Bushire], Bagdat [Baghdad], and Bombay [Mumbai]; relations with and news from EIC ports, presidencies, council and directors (India); English, French, Dutch, Arab and Indian shipping; salaries, financial compensation, banking through financiers (especially
Bania
Merchant of Indian extraction.
communities); copies and translations of letters, treaties, and official documents; monthly and annual accounts; officers’ debts and estates of the deceased; assessments of market trading conditions; trade, valuations, and details on commodities (copper, sulphur, lumber) and processed or manufactured products (English, French, Dutch, Russian, Indian, and Chinese), especially gunpowder, wool, plain and fine textiles, as well as livestock, horses, food and drink (such as rice, China sugar, Java sugar, sugar candy, coffee, and alcohol); dearth of food; physical and mental ill-health; swarming insects; weather and sea conditions; observations on festivities and ceremonies (‘Id and Nowruz); gifts; and the import of enslaved people from Africa.
Substantial portions of accounts contain reports on ongoing conflict between Persian authorities and troops at Julfar [Ra's al-Khaymah, UAE], local Arabs, and the Imaum of Muscatt [Imam of Muscat]; reports from Persia of military and political developments leading to the murder of Nadir Shaw [Nadir Shah Afshar] treated in a supplementary account (‘Journal of the most material Occurrences During Nadir Shaw’s Residence at Carmenia’), the competition for power between his successors, as well as the rise of Careem Caun [Karim Khan Zand]; reports of developments in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Timurid (Mogul [Mughal]) India, with particular reference to increasing tensions between the EIC and the
Nabob
An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India.
of Bengall [
Nawab
An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India.
of Bengal].
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Düzenleme
The entries are recorded in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume, except for the second dispatch comprising a supplementary account
