Untold lives blog

Edwards’ Patent Preserved Potato was the 19th-century equivalent of Smash.  An advert from 1857 claimed that ‘This economical and pure Vegetable keeps good in all Climates, and is a preventative of Scurvy from the use of Salt Provisions’.  A dish of mashed potatoes could be cooked in a few minutes at a cost of less than ½d per 8oz ration.  The product also took up far fewer cubic feet than fresh potatoes.

Advertisement for Edwards’ Patent Preserved Potato, Nautical Magazine July 1857

Patent Preserved Potato had been used for many years by the Royal Navy, HM Emigration Commissioners, Greenwich Hospital, merchant shipping, and the East India Company.  In 1841 the East India Company put a small quantity of Edwards’ Patent Preserved Potato on board three ships, Seringapatam, Northumberland, and Reliance, as an experiment for feeding troops on the outward voyage to India.

Surgeon F Chapman who was in medical charge of the troops on the Seringapatam reported that the potato had been fed to the troops twice a week.  Chapman was enthusiastic about the potatoes, saying that he could ‘without hesitation speak of them in the most favourable terms, believing them to be highly nutritious and conducive to health and nearly if not quite as good as the fresh vegetable’.

The Medical Board at Fort William Calcutta also tested the dried potato. They thought the flavour ‘somewhat inferior’ to fresh potatoes but conceded that might have been caused by the sample coming from a cask which had been open for a long time, causing the contents to deteriorate.  On the whole, the Board considered the product would be a useful article of diet in situations where fresh potatoes could not be obtained.

Preserved Potato was fed to British troops in the Crimea.  The Times’ correspondent there said it was ‘too good to last’ and new supplies were awaited.

Professor of Chemistry, Dr Andrew Ure, provided an analysis of the nutritional value of the Preserved Potato – starch, ‘fibrine of demulcent antiscorbutic quality’, vegetable albumine, and lubricating gum.  It was nearly as nutritious as wheat flour and more nutritious than peas, beans, sago, or arrowroot.

Purchasers were warned to ensure that they procured the genuine article which had brass labels and red cases marked with the name of the sole manufacturers: F King & Son, late Edwards & Co.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
IOR/E/4/766 pp.125-127 Letter concerning the testing of Edwards’ Patent Preserved Potato on board ships, May 1841.
IOR/F/4/1987/87952 Report from the Medical Board on Edwards’ patent preserved potato, put on board the ship Seringapatam as an experiment for the use of the troops, 1841-1842.

The fourth child of Chaund Bebee and John Shore was their son George born on 1 July 1785. He was baptised in Calcutta on 11 May 1788.

George was living in Bengal in 1825.  By 1835 his residence was 4 Carlton Chambers, Regent Street, where his brother Francis had lived.  He later lived off Edgware Road at Cambridge Terrace and Sussex Gardens, and lastly at Pembridge Place, Bayswater.

George’s business interests intertwined with his brothers John and Francis.  He was an East India Company stockholder and active in the Marine Society, and it appears that he travelled between India and England.  For example, in March 1832 George was a passenger in the Charles Grant sailing to Calcutta.

George Shore named as a passenger for Calcutta in the Charles Grant, British Newspaper Archive Bombay Gazette 20 June 1832

He must have kept in touch with his mother Chaund Bebee as her will made in 1836 commented on his financial situation.  She left George a ring which had belonged to his father, asking him to wear it as testimony of her love. George’s half-sister Eliza Cordelia Sherriff was to show him the ring in their mother’s belongings.

Bequest of ring to George Shore from his mother Chaund Bebee, British Library IOR/L/AG/34/27/114.

George and his brother John are mentioned in the journal of Margaret Emily Shore, the granddaughter of their uncle Reverend Thomas William Shore.  In November 1838 Margaret Emily was staying in Wimpole Street London on her way to Madeira for health reasons (she died there in July 1839).  She reported that her brother Richard had received kind and warm invitations from Charles Lord Teignmouth, John Shore, George Shore and many others, so that he would have plenty of homes during his holidays from Haileybury College.

George Shore died aged 73 on 26 November 1858 at his home in Bayswater.  His will, written in 1851, asked that he should be buried at Highgate Cemetery.  He made bequests to his servants, past and present, and was especially generous to Martha Garskin who had been in his service since 1835.  Martha was to receive the choice of one of his gold watches, a clock, one of his Bibles, one of his prayer books, all his household linen and wearing apparel, together with £50 for her ‘present expenses’ and an annuity to enable her to end her days in comfort.

Bequests were also made to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and for an annual Christmas distribution to the poor of the parish where George died.  One executor, John Patch, barrister, was given George’s volumes of prints or caricatures by Hogarth and Gillray and the other, Jonathan Duncan Dow, was to have six dozen of the best wines from George’s cellar.

His brother John’s family were named in the will.  Jessie Hildyard, George’s great-niece and godchild, was to receive £200 as a memento.  Niece Elizabeth Shore at Pinhoe was left £65.  Nephew John Shore was given ‘nil’.  This explicit exclusion is perhaps explained by the allegations of drunkenness and offensive behaviour found in the divorce petition lodged by John’s wife Anna Maria shortly before his death in 1861.

The residue of George’s estate was left to his half-brother Charles John Shore, Lord Teignmouth, in whose hands it would be ‘well appropriated and expended, those calling themselves my relatives or connections being well off and provided as to worldly affairs’.

Our next story in this series will look at the life of George’s half-sister Eliza Cordelia, Chaund Bebee’s daughter with Charles Rothman.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
Baptism of George Shore at Calcutta 11 May 1788 IOR/N/1/4 f.52.
Westminster Rate Books via Findmypast.
Journal of Emily Shore (London, 1898) British Library shelfmark 10856.de.14.

The will of Chaund Bebee or Bebee Shore

The children of Chaund Bebee and John Shore – (1) John Shore

The children of Chaund Bebee and John Shore – (2) Francis and Martha Shore

When sixteen-year-old Thomas John Crawford joined the Second Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers in August 1906 he was escaping a turbulent home life.  His parents Clara (née Jones) and Alfred were married on 8 July 1888 in Chester, and daughter Annie arrived later that year.  Thomas was born in Chester in 1890, younger brother William in Liverpool in 1894.  By this point, the marriage was at breaking point, and Alfred deserted his wife and children, leaving Clara to apply for poor relief.

Report of Alfred Crawford's court case, British Newspaper Archive Chester Chronicle 13 August 1898

In 1897, after dodging the law, Alfred appeared at Chester Petty Sessions and was sentenced to two months in jail.  The Justices were outraged at ‘one of the worst cases ever brought before them’ - Crawford earned a decent salary of around £2 per week as a compositor while his wife was claiming poor relief.  However the prison sentence was not enough to persuade Crawford to support his family, and he was sentenced to three months’ hard labour in August 1898.  By 1901 he had moved to Wales, and spent the period from 1911 to his death in 1925 as a ‘single’ man living in a boarding house in Warrington.  Clara moved on with her life, ‘marrying’ Samuel Griffiths in 1901 and starting another family.  As an abandoned wife she must have felt morally, if not legally, justified in marrying again.

Photograph of Quetta cantonment early 1890s - British Library IOR/L/MIL/7/6553

Thomas Crawford headed overseas, arriving in Shwebo, Burma, in early 1908.  On 31 December 1910, he left Rangoon for Karachi, en route for Quetta, Balochistan.  The Royal Welch took part in the series of events connected with the visit of George V and Queen Mary in that year, including the Coronation Durbar.  The Regimental Records of the Royal Welch state: ‘The Battalion is doing well and is very efficient… Men are clean, healthy and cheerful. There is a tremendous esprit de corps… I consider the Battalion has improved much during its stay in Quetta’.  Thomas’s service record shows a charge against him for neglect of duty, insubordination, and being absent from parade in November 1911, so perhaps Quetta did not improve him personally!  Despite this blemish, he is described as ‘Honest, sober and thoroughly reliable’.

Defaulter sheet from the service record of Thomas John Crawford, UK British Army World War I Service Records 1914-1920, The National Archives WO 363

Thomas returned from India in March 1913, transferring to the Army Reserve.  He married his cousin Elsie Maud Jones in July 1914, but Thomas, like many of the Royal Welch reservists, re-enlisted in early August 1914.  He was immediately sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, serving there for two periods during 1914 and mid-1915, before being shot in the thigh and returning home to recuperate.

October 1915 saw Thomas leave for the Mesopotamia campaign, and by February 1916 he was in Basra.  A report describes the conditions: ‘The whole theatre of operations is as flat as a billiard table. It is impossible to locate one’s position except by compass bearing and pacing.  This induces in the individual a sense of isolation and an impotent feeling of being lost.  The mirage also distorts and confuses all objects…Man in these surroundings feels like an ant on a skating rink… Under the effect of rain or flood the country is turned into a bog of particularly tenacious mud’.  Thomas went missing in action on 9 April 1916 - his body could not be found.  His death was formally certified at Basra on 28 August 1917.

Lesley Shapland
Cataloguer, India Office Records

Further reading:
Reports of Alfred Crawford’s desertion of his wife and family can be found in the Chester Chronicle, 25 December 1897, 18 June 1898 and 13 August 1898, available at the British Newspaper Archive, also via www.findmypast.co.uk.
Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, late the 23rd Foot. Compiled by A. D. L. Cary ... & Stouppe McCance, 4 vols. (London: Royal United Service Institution, 1921-29) - quote from p.326.
IOR/L/MIL/7/6553: Defensive works in Quetta: plans and photographs 1888-1891.
New Horizons Volume 2 Number 1 2008 Cadet Gregory E. Lippiatt ‘No More Quetta Manners: The Social Evolution of the Royal Welch Fusiliers on the Western Front’.
IOR/l/MIL/15/72/1: Critical Study of the Campaign in Mesopotamia up to April 1917, Part I Report (Calcutta; Government of India Press, 1925) - quote from p.66.
1911 Census records the 300 men of the Second Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers at the Roberts Barracks, Quetta.  Available via www.findmypast.co.uk and www.ancestry.co.uk. 

Francis and Martha, the second and third children of Chaund Bebee and John Shore, were baptised together in Calcutta on 2 February 1785.  John Shore was at that time a senior merchant in the service of the East India Company.  Francis was born about 1781 and Martha in about 1783.

When Francis made his will in 1825, he said that he had lately resided in Bengal but now lived in Regent Street, Westminster.  The Westminster Rate Books show his address as 4 Carlton Chambers, Regent Street.  Carlton Chambers was purpose-built for letting out as sets of rooms. A resident porter looked after the building, and a female servant also lived on the premises to light fires and clean for tenants.

Carlton Chambers in Regent Street from Tallis's London Street Views. No. 17, Regent Street, Division IV (1838)

Francis’s business interests were closely linked to his brothers John and George.  He was an East India Company stockholder and active in the Marine Society.  In 1832 Francis was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.

On 5 November 1834 Francis Shore died aged 53 at his home in Regent Street, after a short illness of 4½ hours.  He was buried at St Pancras Church.  A memorial tablet originally on the west wall of the church is now in the crypt. 

Francis’s will bequeathed his estate in trust to his brothers John and George and his sister Martha, and after their deaths to their lawful children.  A bequest was made to John’s ‘natural’ daughter Elizabeth Shore who was living at Guilford Street London with her father and his family. Elizabeth was left 20,000 sicca rupees, or the equivalent in British currency, to be paid out of her father’s share at his death before it was divided between his other children.  Although Francis identified Elizabeth as his niece, a clear distinction was made between her and John's legitimate offspring.

St Sidwell's Church Exeter from British Newspaper Archive Illustrated London News 22 February 1845 Image © Illustrated London News Group

Martha Shore also moved from Bengal to England. She married Peter Mann Osborne on 28 September 1813 at St Sidwell's Church Exeter, Devon.  Osborne was a Church of England priest who was curate for the parish of Heavitree just outside Exeter.  They started their married life in a ‘neat modern-built’ house at Salutary Mount.

Sale of house occupied by Reverend Osborne at Heavitree - British Newspaper Archive Exeter Flying Post  11 August 1814

The couple moved to the village of Pinhoe, where Martha died aged 50 on 8 September 1834 after a severe illness.  She was buried at Clyst Hydon.

The 1841 and 1851 censuses show Martha’s niece Elizabeth Shore living with Reverend Osborne at Pinhoe.  Osborne died in Pinhoe at a house called Petersfield aged 81 in June 1860.  In his will he made provision for Elizabeth to live at Petersfield and have use of its contents for the rest of her life.  After Elizabeth’s death, Osborne's estate was to pass to the eldest son of his brother Thomas Osborne, and to Letitia Hildyard (née Shore, Elizabeth’s half-sister), her husband Frederick Hildyard, and their children.

In 1861 Elizabeth Shore was living at Petersfield with three servants and was described in the census as a landed proprietor.  She died there on 20 May 1865 aged 62.  Her will describes Peter Mann Osborne as ‘my deceased friend’.  She bequeathed her property in investments to the children of Letitia Hildyard.

Sale of Petersfield - British Newspaper Archive Exeter Flying Post  20 September 1865

Petersfield and its contents were put up for sale soon after Elizabeth’s death under the terms of Peter Mann Osborne’s will.

Sale of Peter Mann Osborne’s furniture and household effects -British Newspaper Archive Exeter Flying Post 6 September 1865

The next post in this series will look at the life of George Shore, Chaund Bebee’s youngest son.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
Baptism of Francis and Martha Shore at Calcutta 2 February 1785 IOR/N/1/4 f.11.
Death of Francis Shore – British Newspaper Archive English Chronicle 6 November 1834 and Satirist 9 November 1834.
Will and estate papers for Francis Shore - IOR/L/AG/34/29/57 pp.21-36; IOR/L/AG/34/27/108 p.574; IOR/L/AG/34/29/3; IOR/L/AG/34/27/109 p.262.
Death of Martha Shore - British Newspaper Archive Western Times 13 September 1834.
Death of Elizabeth Shore - British Newspaper Archive Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 26 May 1865.
Westminster Rate Books via Findmypast
Information about Carlton Chambers 
The will of Chaund Bebee or Bebee Shore 
The children of Chaund Bebee and John Shore – (1) John Shore 

We met Chaund Bebee, commonly known as Bebee Shore, in an earlier story about her will.  She had four children with John Shore, an East India Company official who rose to be Governor General of Bengal: John, Francis, Martha, and George.

John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth, by Henry Edward Dawe circa 1823 © National Portrait Gallery, London NPG D40449

Sir John Shore left Calcutta for the final time in March 1798, sailing for England with his wife Charlotte and their children.  Shore died on 14 February 1834.  The only one of his ‘natural’ children to receive a bequest in his will was John, who received £50 for acting as one of the executors, although he wasn’t described as being Shore’s son.

John Shore junior was baptised  at Calcutta in October 1777.  In 1793 he was nominated by the East India Company Court of Directors as a writer for Fort Marlborough in Sumatra.  John was in India at the time and it is unclear whether he ever went to Sumatra, although he remained listed on the Company’s West Coast establishment until 1811.  In January 1797 he was appointed agent to superintend the unloading and loading of Company ships at Calcutta, and the following month he became Secretary to the Marine Board.  He also served as Marine Paymaster and Secretary to the Committee of Embarkation.

Elizabeth Shore, John’s ‘natural’ daughter, was born on 4 October 1803.  John quit his post in Calcutta in February 1808 and travelled to England with Elizabeth in the ship Castle Eden.

In 1812 John married Letitia Thwaits at St George Hanover Square.  They had four children - Letitia, Ellen, John, and Jessy Emily.  The family lived at 23 Guilford Street London, near the Foundling Hospital where John was a Governor.  He was also a director of Guardian Fire and Life Assurance Office, and he and his brothers Francis and George were all East India Company stockholders and active in the Marine Society.

Engraving by James Wyld of the parishes of St Giles in the Fields & St George, Bloomsbury (1824). Maps Crace Port. 15.4 BL Online Gallery. Guilford Street is in the top right corner of the plan.

In 1822 John Shore, described as ‘a Gentleman of fortune’ was found guilty of assaulting schoolmaster John Underhill during an altercation at Ramsgate Assembly Rooms where the election of a master of ceremonies was taking place.  Shore was fined one shilling and required to pay 40 shillings costs.

John Shore died on 7 April 1842.  Newspaper reports and his burial record give his age as 70 which, if correct, would make him born about 1772.  In his will John asked to buried in the vaults of St Pancras Church near to his daughters Jessy Emily and Ellen who had died in February 1829, aged eight and fourteen.  He left to his wife Letitia a house and lands in Cheltenham and the house in Guilford Street, as well as monetary assets.  Other beneficiaries included his daughter Letitia, wife of Reverend Frederick Hildyard in Norfolk; his son John; his daughter Elizabeth; his sister Martha’s widower Peter Mann Osborne; and his brother George.  As well as money, George received a gold snuff box and John’s copy of the Asiatic Journal.  John’s half-brother Charles John, 2nd Lord Teignmouth, and his cousin Reverend Thomas Shore of Paignton are mentioned in connection with trusts discussed in the will.

Sale details for 23 Guilford Street – ‘a well-built residence, very conveniently arranged, and in excellent repair’ - Morning Herald (London) 6 March 1852 British Newspaper Archive.  Sculptor Jacob Epstein was a later occupant.

John’s widow Letitia died at 23 Guilford Street on 27 December 1843 and was buried at St Pancras Church.  Their son John was still living in the family house in 1851 but the property was sold in 1852.

The next post in this series will look at the lives of Francis and Martha Shore.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
IOR/G/35/36 Letter from Court of Directors to Fort Marlborough 5 June 1793 recording John Shore’s appointment as writer, and letter from James Cobb to Fort Marlborough 26 June 1793 forwarding covenants for John Shore.
IOR/D/34 p.409 Appointment of John Shore as writer for Fort Marlborough 9 April 1794.
IOR/L/MAR/B/296D Journal of the ship Castle Eden with passenger list from Bengal 1808 - John was accompanied by a servant Andrew Dias, probably the same man as the Andrew Deos who sailed to Portsmouth with Sir John Shore and his family in the Britannia in 1798.  William Hickey was a fellow passenger in the Castle Eden.
Records relating to John Shore junior’s service in Bengal – IOR/F/4/20/796; IOR/F/4/211/4721; IOR/F/4/309/7076; IOR/F/4/368/9208.
IOR/N/1/17 f.14 Baptism of Elizabeth Shore at Calcutta 16 November 1804.
British Newspaper Archive e.g. Assault on John Underhill  -Morning Advertiser 14 August 1822; Report of meeting of East India Company stockholders at the City of London Tavern Bishopsgate - London Courier and Evening Gazette 28 June 1833; Marine Society reports naming the Shore brothers – Morning Herald 9 February 1828 and New Times (London) 11 March 1830 and 11 February; sale of 23 Guilford Street - Morning Herald (London) 6 March 1852.
Will of John Shore proved 11 May 1842 in Prerogative Court of Canterbury (at The National Archives); also will and estate papers from court in Calcutta IOR/L/AG/34/29/73 pp. 343-365.

Sir Charles Raymond was born in 1713 near Exmouth in Devon and made his fortune with the East India Company.  He was started on a career at sea by his uncle, Hugh Raymond, who engaged him as purser on the Dawsonne 1729/30.  The majority of voyages undertaken by ships for the East India Company can be traced using the magnificent archive of journals kept at the British Library, but there is no journal for Raymond’s first voyage, only a ledger.  The voyage took a year longer than might be expected, lasting from 10 February 1730-15 August 1732.  The journal of the Derby, also managed by Hugh Raymond, explains why.

Having completed business in Madras, the Dawsonne proceeded to Calcutta where the cargo was unloaded.  Then in October orders were received that the Dawsonne was to spend a year guarding the Hugli River in company with the Derby, protecting other shipping from the threat of the Ostend vessels.  There were only a couple of possible threats during that time, but the simple task of keeping safe a ship manoeuvred by sail was not easy in waters which were so silted.  On 10 October 1731 the Frances arrived to relieve the Dawsonne allowing her to return to Calcutta to prepare for the voyage home.

Portrait of Sir Charles Raymond. The location of the original portrait and the copyright status of this image are unknown. Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item.

Raymond then became 3rd Mate on the Princess of Wales 1732/3.  For his third voyage Hugh Raymond arranged for Charles (then aged 21) to serve as Captain of the Wager and he continued in this role for three more voyages.  Charles Raymond was lucky in that although he lost many of his crew to sickness, he did not have any major enemy encounters and his voyages were relatively routine.  He made six voyages to India and it seems likely the Raymond family had contacts in Calcutta where they could maximise their trading opportunities.

Raymond retired in 1747 a wealthy man and took up a business career in the City of London.  His main concern was in managing voyages for the East India Company.  He was one of the leaders in this for the remaining 40 years of his life, responsible for well over 110 voyages by East Indiamen.  He also became one of the managers of the Sun Fire Office, where his colleagues were men who had power and influence in the City and the commitment was a very shrewd career move.  He became involved in other City financial concerns as well as serving several charitable organisations such as becoming a Governor of the Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem.  In 1771 Raymond became one of the founders of a bank and 1774 he was created a baronet.  He was said to be ‘universally respected’ as an old man and he died on 24 August 1788 leaving a fortune to his two surviving daughters.

Valentines, the seat of Charles Raymond, from A New and Complete History of Essex by a Gentleman, 1771

As well as a home and offices in the City, Raymond purchased Valentines in Essex in 1754 as a country retreat for his family.  Several of his relatives and associates came to live nearby and Ilford became quite a hub of retired East India captains who were partners in managing ships, insurance and banking.  Raymond’s home is now owned by the London Borough of Redbridge and one room has been enhanced by the Friends of Valentines Mansion to reflect Raymond’s life.

Valentines Mansion today - photograph by the author

Georgina Green
Independent researcher

Further reading:
Anthony Farrington, Catalogue of East India Company Ships’ Journals and Logs 1600 – 1834.
BL, IOR/L/MAR/B/671D Ledger of Dawsonne, 1729/30; BL, IOR/L/MAR/B/653G Journal of Derby, 1729/30.
Obituaries for Charles Raymond - Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (London) 1 December 1787; Gentleman’s Magazine Vol.58 (1788) p.758 & p.834.
History of Valentines Mansion 

Valentines Mansion is open to the public on Sundays and Mondays, 10.30am – 4pm, free of charge. 

In his 1918 mission to Nejd, Philby’s task, as seen by British officialdom, was to gather intelligence on the area and establish a relationship with Ibn Sa’ud on whom the British had little information.  This information could then be used to further British political, economic and strategic interests in the area in the context of the expected demise of the Ottoman Empire.  In 1917-18 the Empire’s writ still held sway precariously in parts of the Arabian peninsula and the Middle East (in 1818 the Ottomans had destroyed Diriyah, the capital of an earlier iteration of the Saudi state).

IOR/R/15/5/66 f 66 ‘22/16 Mr Philby’s Mission to Najd – 1918.’

In 1918 a distilled report of the route taken and information gathered by the Najd Mission 1917-1918 including relations between Ibn Sa’ud and Kuwait and other Arabian potentates was compiled and published.

Philby and the repurposing of ‘colonial knowledge’

However, it seems reasonable to say that Philby did not adhere to the career path of a Colonial Office Intelligence Officer that would be most desired by the officials in London: in 1924 he resigned from the Colonial Office.  Through his deep interest in the Arabian Peninsula Philby was to convert to Islam in 1930 becoming Abdullah Philby and settling on an ongoing basis in Ibn Sa’ud’s domains.

Photograph of Philby used in his book The Heart of Arabia (London Constable and Company Ltd, 1922) Public Domain

He advised Ibn Sa’ud as how to best manage relations with the British and other western powers as well as the international oil companies in Ibn Saud’s negotiations over petroleum rights and concessions.  The outcome of this took a decisive turn in London in 1932 on the eve of the proclamation of the consolidated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (since 1927 Ibn Saud domains had been known as the Kingdom of Hijaz and Nejd and Dependencies).  In a meeting with Ibn Sa’ud’s son, Prince Faisal and adviser, Fuad Hamza, Sir Oliphant Lanceleot sent them away empty-handed after a plea for financial help to develop the oil reserves of the nascent state.

The legacy of Ibn Sa’ud and Philby

In helping Ibn Sa’ud with insider knowledge and advice to resist, negotiate with and deflect the power of the British Empire, Philby - whilst his role should not be overstated - contributed to the establishment and survival of Saudi Arabia which became a key state in the contemporary Middle East state system and global oil economy.  These developments were to come later but the relationship between Ibn Sa’ud and Philby started and was cemented in ‘Mr Philby’s Mission to Najd’ in 1917-18.

Crossing the Heart of Arabia

In a commemoration of this historical significance, 2023 sees another expedition crossing the heart of the Arabian peninsula retracing the original expedition Harry St John Philby made in 1917-18, both expeditions being made, in a coincidence of timing, around the time of global pandemics.  This contemporary team includes Reem Philby, the granddaughter of Harry St John (Abdullah) Philby.  This expedition will end when the team arrive in Jeddah at the end of the month. Like St John Philby’s original expedition, they have sought to undertake research in order to better understand the vast expanse of territory that makes up this still little known and even less-understood part of the world.  The involvement and influence of the Philby family in desert exploration and wilderness education lives on indeed, in the Heart of Arabia.

Francis Owtram
Gulf History Specialist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

In 1917 St John Philby, Colonial Office Intelligence Officer, was sent by the British Colonial Office Arab Bureau in Cairo on a mission to cross the desert from Uqair on the Persian Gulf to Riyadh and make contact with Ibn Sa’ud, the ruler of Najd in central Arabia.

In May 1917, he was briefed en route in Baghdad by Major Gertrude Bell, the first female Military Intelligence Officer in the British Army, who was advising the British government on Middle East policy following her earlier archaeological and intelligence gathering expeditions in Iraq, Syria and the Arabian peninsula.

IOR/R/15/5//66, f 1 ‘22/16/ Mr Philby’s Mission to Najd – 1918.’

Expedition logistics: tea, tobacco and thermometers

Like any expedition, great attention was paid to logistics including supplies and kit such as tea, tobacco, thermometers and photographic film.

IOR/R/15/5/66, f 53 ‘22/16/ Mr Philby’s Mission to Najd – 1918.’

Logistics were also facilitated by Abdullah al-Nafisi, Ibn Sa’ud’s agent who smoothed Philby’s path in various ways.

IOR/R/15/5/66, f 113, ‘22/16/ Mr Philby’s Mission to Najd – 1918.’

Map of Central Arabia with Philby’s route marked in red

On the route to Riyadh, Philby undertook pioneering cartographical work and meteorological research, recorded information on the people inhabiting the area, and collected geological and natural history specimens.  In contemporary understandings of imperialism and empire, these expeditions constitute the gathering of ‘colonial knowledge’ on an area: the accumulation and collating of a corpus of information on the inhabitants, terrain, and natural resources of an area which will enable the colonial power to influence, coerce, and if circumstances require it, facilitate the deployment of colonial violence to attempt to achieve outcomes advantageous to the imperial power.

As was his habit, Philby compiled detailed and meticulous notes during his preparations and on the journey.  On arrival in Riyadh, he paced the city walls in order to draw up a map of the settlement and its outer limits.  Also important were gifts: Philby brought tents for Ibn Sa’ud and on his departure back to the Persian Gulf was given two Arabian oryx as gifts for King George V which were led on string back over the dusty terrain en route to England via Bombay.

Before his departure back to the Persian Gulf, Philby also took undertook an expedition along the Wadi Dawasir which had been used for centuries as a route to bring the coffee from Mocha into central Arabia.  All this was to be the start of a lifetime of exploration of the Arabian Peninsula.

‘Southern Nejd: Journey to Kharj, Aflaj, Sulaiyyil, and Wadi Dawasir in 1918’

Francis Owtram
Gulf History Specialist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further reading:
Madawi Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, 2nd edition, (Cambridge University Press, 2010)