Persian Gulf Residency - Historical Background Until 1900

Historical Background Until 1900

British interest in the Persian Gulf originated in the sixteenth century and steadily increased as British India’s importance rose in the imperial system of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the beginning, the agenda was primarily of a commercial character. Realizing the region's significance, the British fleet supported the Persian emperor Shāh Abbās in expelling the Portuguese from Hormuz Island in 1622. In return, the British East India Company (“the Company”) was permitted to establish a trading post in the coastal city of Bandar 'Abbās, which became their principal port in the Persian Gulf. Empowered by the charter of Charles II in 1661, the Company was responsible for conducting British foreign policy in the Persian Gulf, as well as concluding various treaties, agreements and engagements with Persian Gulf states in its capacity as the Crown’s regional agent.

In 1763, the British East India Company established a residency at Bušehr, on the Persian side of the Persian Gulf: this was followed by another residency in Basar several years later. The arrival in Persia in 1807 of a large French mission under General Gardane galvanized the British, both in London and Calcutta. They responded by sending a mission under Sir Harford Jones, which resulted in establishing the Preliminary Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Shah in 1809. Despite being modified during subsequent negotiations, this treaty provided the framework within which Anglo–Persian foreign relations operated for the next half century. Britain appointed Harford Jones as their first resident envoy to the Persian court in 1808. Until the appointment of Charles Alison as Minister in Tehran in 1860, the envoy and his staff were, with rare exceptions, almost exclusively recruited from the East India Company.

In the absence of formal diplomatic relations, the political resident conducted all necessary negotiations with Persian authorities and was described by Sir George Curzon as “the uncrowned king of the Persian Gulf.” Whether Persia liked it or not, the political resident had at his disposal naval forces with which to suppress piracy, slave trading, and gun running, and to enforce quarantine regulations; he also could, and did, put landing parties and punitive expeditions ashore on the Persian coast. In 1822, the Bušehr and Basar residencies were combined, with Bušehr serving as headquarters for the new position of “British Resident for the Persian Gulf.” A chief political resident was the chief executive officer of the political unit, and he was subordinate to the governor of Bombay until 1873 and the viceroy of India until 1947, when India became independent. In 1858, the East India Company’s agency was transferred to the Indian Raj, who assumed authority of British foreign policy with Persian Gulf states: this responsibility went to the Foreign Office on April 1, 1947.