Factory Records: Egypt and the Red Sea

Mocha letters and accounts, 1644-1828. Correspondence re overland route, 1773-1799. Letters to Company from agent in Egypt, 1834-1858. Letters received by agent in Egypt, 1832-1870. Letters received by agent at Suez, 1838-1853. Letters received by agent at Cairo, 1837-1859. Letterbooks of Mr Walne, agent at Cairo, 1838-59. Letterbooks of Captain Johnson, agent at Alexandria, later Egypt, 1839-1869. Letterbooks of Captain Lyons, Deputy Agent then Agent in Egypt, 1838-1841. Accounts of agent in Egypt, packet agent at Alexandria, packet agent at Suez and at Cairo, 1838-1869.

The East India Company in Mocha The Company had first attempted trade at Mocha in 1609. Pilgrim traffic had made the port, situated at the northern entrance to the Red Sea, an important commercial centre and a strong market existed for goods from the east. By 1618 permission had been obtained to trade and to establish factories at Mocha, Sana, Ties and Aden within the Sultan of the Yemen's dominions. In the early days of trade the main export was coral but Mocha later became an important centre for coffee. The factory, however, proved unprofitable and the Company closed it in 1662, obtaining coffee instead from Basra. In the early eighteenth century, as the importance of the coffee trade increased, the Company set in place a trading strategy. In most years one ship, overseen by a supercargo, would be sent directly from England to Mocha. The merchants would buy coffee from Mocha and the northern coffee market at Bait al'Faqih and ship it home. Meanwhile, the Council at Bombay had re-established the Mocha factory and there was some friction because of these overlapping areas of Company activity. In 1752 the factory was given up and the Mocha trade was managed exclusively by supercargoes. From around this time, the Red Sea countries began to assume strategic importance in the struggle for supremacy in India between England and France. Later this importance increased as the two countries sought to gain control in Egypt. Mocha became a Residency and then an Agency, a British official residing there from 1802 to 1830. In 1839 the Agency was abolished and by 1849 Mocha was overseen from the Company's Egyptian Agency. The Overland Route Throughout the eighteenth century, travel and communication between Britain and India had been mainly by the all-sea route. To ease communication and to open up trade, however, interest had grown in an overland route. The initiative had come from the Indian presidencies and from private individuals, notably George Baldwin, a merchant, and Thomas Waghom. Two possibilities presented themselves: through Syria to the Persian Gulf or through Egypt to the Red Sea. By the early nineteenth century, with Anglo-French rivalry escalating and the need to protect British interests in India apparent, the demand for an overland route had become pressing. The Egyptian route became the favoured option. In 1869 the Suez Canal was opened and the British government, which had played no part in its construction, hastily bought shares in order to secure influence in the area. British Interests in Egypt and the Red Sea, 1765-1830 The Company became interested in Egypt in the mid-eighteenth century because of the political changes that were taking place there. The area, as part of the Ottoman Empire, had in the past effectively been closed to Christian trade. From 1766, however, rebel Egyptian leaders periodically asserted their independence from the Ottoman Porte (ruler) and tried to open up trade with Europe and India. At the invitation of the Egyptian rulers, the Company began trading between India and Suez in 1768; it also appointed George Baldwin as its packet agent in Cairo. A few years later, however, the Ottoman Porte's opposition meant that Company trade in the Red Sea was halted, except at Mocha and Jedda. With the need for an overland route becoming a pressing concern, the British Government and the Company decided in 1786 to re-establish a consular office in Egypt. George Baldwin was appointed to the post with a brief to negotiate for the overland route. However, the Foreign Office's interest in the matter declined and Baldwin was withdrawn in 1798, on the eve of the French invasion of Egypt. Belatedly realising the danger to Indian possessions, the British Government and the Company took defensive measures. An armed force was sent from Bombay to the island of Perim to block the exit from the Red Sea. After the French invasion, Britain launched attacks on two fronts, a combined military and naval force from India co-operating with English forces operating in the Mediterranean. The Company set out, with mixed success, to win the support of Egyptian rulers while retaining friendly relations with the Ottoman ruler. Sir Home Popham tried unsuccessfully to enter into commercial treaties with the Iman of Sana and Sultan of Lahej. In Persia, John Malcolm allied the Indian presidencies with the Shah of Teheran in 1800 and in 1810 he renegotiated the alliance to make provision against advances from Russia. With the removal of the Company's commercial monopolies and privileges in 1833, the role of the Company's representatives in Egypt and the Red Sea became entirely diplomatic in purpose, as it sought to protect British influence in the area.

Unrestricted

Records of the Cairo, Alexandria and Suez agencies (R/19) Records of the British Administration at Aden (R/20) Persia and Persian Gulf Factory records (G/29) Bombay Proceedings (P)