Description

Lewis PELLY (1825 – 1892), Compiler. / IMPERIAL BRITISH EAST AFRICA COMPANY.

[Sammelband, components from various publishers dated 1887-9, with contents assembled in London, 1889].

 

Large 4° (33 x 20.5 cm ): [1 f.], 243 pp., plus [5 ff. (unpaginated) interleaved], 1 folding lithographed map, 1 f. at end; a sammelband composed of different publications but with added continuous hand-stamped pagination, endpapers renewed, pastedown ex-libris tag of the ‘H.G. Lowder Library’ to front endpaper; bound in modern black cloth with gilt title and former owner’s name ‘Lowder’ to spine, preserving portion of original cloth laid over upper cover bearing gilt ‘crowned sun’ insignia of the Company, title and name of the work’s compiler ‘Sir Lewis Pelly’ (Good, all leaves with light stains to blank gutter, else mostly clean, save some flaws to some documents detailed below; binding very good but pasted down surface of original front cover with some loss scarcely affecting gilt adornment).  

 

While Europeans had a transient presence along the coast of what is today Kenya since Vasco da Gama visited its shores in 1498, and Portugal had established a fixed base a Fort Jesus (Mombasa) in 1593, the interior of the region remained an almost complete enigma to Westerners until well into the 19^th century.  Hitherto, the coastal area was largely under the rule of the Oman (and from 1856, its local successor state, the Sultanate of Zanzibar), while the interior regions were ruled by their traditional indigenous nations.

The first Europeans to penetrate the interior were Christian missionaries who began to establish stations there in the 1840s.  Explorers, who concentrated on discovering the Great Lakes region, followed.

The Berlin Conference (1884-5), whereby the European powers divided Africa amongst themselves, designated the regions that roughly comprised today’s Kenya and Uganda as being a British ‘sphere of influence’.

Britain rested the legitimacy of its claims to what would become Kenya on a few factors.  First, the Royal Navy had maintained a frequent presence along its coasts since the early 19^th century, where it prosecuted anti-slave trade raids against Oman.  Britain even briefly (1824-6) took control of Mombasa, before relinquishing it to Omani control.  Second, most of the missionaries and explorers who had operated in the region’s interior were British.  Third, much of the maritime commerce of the region related to British India.  However, as the British were a long way from being able to claim ‘active possession’ of this vast territory, their claims were relatively weak.

In 1884, in anticipation of the Berlin award, the Scottish shipping magnate Sir William Mackinnon, 1^st Baronet (1823 – 1893) founded the British East Africa Association, a private joint stock company that was given the rights to administer ‘British East Africa’ (Kenya and Uganda) on behalf of the British crown.  It was then common for European governments to off-load their responsibilities for colonization in Africa to such commercial enterprises.  Westminster was then especially eager to do so, as its resources and attentions were concentrated on South Africa, in the wake of Britain’s defeat during the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-1).

By way of the Anglo-German Agreement of 1886, Berlin and London resolved to divide their spheres of interest in East Africa between them roughly along what would become the Tanzania-Kenya boundary.

On May 24, 1887, under intense diplomatic pressure, the Sultanate of Zanzibar was compelled to cede control of Mombasa and much of the coast of modern Kenya to the British East Africa Association, so providing a beachhead for colonial expansion.

To create a more robust entity to govern and develop British East Africa, on April 18, 1888, Sir William Mackinnon, replacing the Association, incorporated the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC), which received its royal charter from Queen Victoria in September of the same year.

The IBEAC was given control over an area of 246,800 square miles (639,000 km²), which roughly corresponded to the modern territories of Kenya and parts of Uganda, although as the interior was not properly surveyed, the limits of the domain were not well defined; only the coastal areas and Lake Victoria were well mapped.  The IBEAC was given the authority to raise taxes, administer justice, sign treaties and to operate civil services throughout British East Africa, while British citizens were to be given immunity from prosecution by indigenous authorities.

In 1890, the IBEAC sent the explorer Frederick Lugard to the Kingdom of Buganda (central Uganda), who manged to technically make the region a ‘protectorate’ of the Company, setting up a base at ‘Kampala Hill’ (today Kampala).  However, he only managed to strike an accord with one the several rival factions in the county, such that once Uganda descended into civil war, in January 1892, British authority dissolved, so creating a major headache for both the IBEAC and Whitehall.

The IBEAC’s prime objective was the construction of a railway form Mombasa across British East Africa to Lake Victoria (later known as the Uganda Railway), the absence of which would make the consolidation of British authority impossible.  The Company hired the Royal Engineers James Macdonald and John Wallace Pringle to survey the route for the railway.  This was done with great dispatch and competence, with the engineers reporting that the Kikuyuland region (near moder day Nairobi) possessed a stellar climate suitable for European settlement.

In tandem with the railway project, in 1890, the IBEAC commenced construction of the Mackinnon-Sclater Road, a 970 km oxcart track from Mombasa to Busai, Uganda.  Whie this ‘road’ was soon completed, it was described as so rough as to be one of the most horrible itineraries in the world.

The IBEAC was so confident of quickly building the Uganda Railway that, in 1890, it ordered a very expensive 110-ton steamboat, the SS William Mackinnon, to sail on Lake Victoria.  The ship was brought in pieces from Scotland to Mombasa, to be taken by the railway to Lake Victoria, where it would be assembled (as it turned out, the ship would remain in storage in Mombasa until 1895).

Even though the IBEAC’s Board of Directors included some ultra-experienced ‘colonial hands’ and financial ‘heavy hitters’, the Company had great trouble raising the funds necessary to commence construction of the Uganda Railway.  This, and its inability to control the deteriorating security situation in Uganda, were seen as fatal flaws by Westminster.  In 1893, the British crown assumed direct rule over Briths East Africa, which for all practical purposes meant the demise of the IBEAC (although the Company would not be formally dissolved until 1896).

Looking at the greater context, the IBEAC’s troubles and demise were in line with the generally desultory, and often disastrous, track records of the private enterprises that many European powers (ex. Britian, Germany, Portugal) had established to manage commerce and governance in their African domains in the late 19^th century.  Subsequently, it came to be commonly regarded that such heavy responsivities were too great to be endured by private entities and could only be handled by governments.

The British government split the IBEAC’s former territories into two separate crown colonies, the Protectorate of Uganda (1894) and the East Africa Protectorate (1895), the latter of which was renamed Kenya in 1920, the predecessor of today’s eponymous nation.

Crown rule in East Africa proved realtively successful.  The Uganda Railway was built with alacrity, largely along Macdonald and Pringle’s designs, and was completed in 1901.  This anchored colonial authority in Uganda and Kenya, allowing the British to supress unrest, while the mercantile sector flourished, in good part buoyed by immigrants from India.  New agrarian settlements were established, including small but flourishing communities of European immigrants.  Nairobi was founded in 1899 and rose to become the most important city in East Africa.

The IBEAC had a controversial legacy.  Sir Gerald Herbert Portal, the Consul General of British East Africa (in office, 1889-92), who became immensely frustrated while dealing with the Company, described it as “A miserable fraud and a disgrace to the English name”.  While that assessment may have been a touch harsh, it is certainly fair to say that the IBEAC’s finances were not well managed, in good part due to the self-dealing on the part of the Company’s directors (i.e., awarding IBEAC contracts to oneself, without providing good value or proper accounting).  Moreover, the IBEAC’s handling of diplomacy in Uganda was shambolic at best.  This all being considered, the Company did negotiate some successful and enduring treaties with Zanzibar and local powers in Kenya.  Importantly, the Macdonald-Pringle survey for the Uganda Railway, which the company sponsored, was well executed, resulting in massive future benefits, not only facilitating the building of the railroad but also establishing the basis for the foundation of Nairobi, as well as many thriving agrarian settlements.

The Present Work in Focus

This is an extremely rare custom-made sammelband featuring several foundational works regarding the colonial era in what is today Kenya and Uganda, composed of publications and ephemeral documents issued by different printers at different times between 1887 and 1889, all is which are amazingly rare survivors in their own right.  The documents were compiled and bound (with a table contents) in 1889 by Sir Lewis Pelly, one of the Imperial British East Africa Company’s founding directors and a famed overseas political agent with extensive field experience in East Africa, Persia and India.  It seems that Pelly made only a handful of examples of the sammelband to be presented to his fellow directors, as well as major IBEAC inventors.  The work served as both a guide with vital information to be actively used by the IBEAC’s key stakeholders, as well as a memento celebrating the establishment of the Company.  The sammelband was attractively bound with the gilt ‘crowned sun’ insignia of the IBEAC.

 

Specifically, the sammelband features the key documents that established the Imperial British East Africa Company, including its Charter (or ‘Birth Certificate’); it Prospectus; Deed of Settlement (operational bylaws); the coloured designs for its flags; sample applications for IBEAC Shares; a report of the Company’s Directors to it main shareholders detailing its early activities; printings of the treaties between the IBEAC’s predecessor organisation, the British East Africa Association, and the Sultan of Zanzibar leasing the Company extensive coastal territories; a suite of protectorate treaties between various indigenous chiefs and the Association or IBEAC; as well as a sample template for such treaties; a valuable record of historical treaties and documents concerning the relations between Zanzibar and various European powers (1844-87); and a rare early map depicting the territories of the IBEAC and adjacent lands.

 

In sum, the sammelband provides a peerless ‘insider’s view’ into the ambitions and processes of a grand European colonial venture in the early days of the ‘Scramble for Africa’.  These documents are surely an invitation to much further academic discovery.

 

LIST OF CONTENTS:

 

*All documents in the sammelband are in Good to Very Good condition (there is some light staining to the blank gutter of all leaves), unless otherwise noted in the individual document descriptions below. Many documents have their own pagination, while there is added continuous hand-stamped pagination throughout the work.

 

Table of Contents (1 f.)

 

[1].

Concession given by the Sultan of Zanzibar to the British East Africa Company.

[No Printer, but London, 1889].

6 ff., printed single-sided on 12 pp. on blue paper [thus pp. 1-12 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This important document features the full text of the treaty between the British East Africa Association, the IBEAC’s predecessor entity, led by William Mackinnon, and the Sultan of Zanzibar, Sayyid Bargash-bid-Said, dated May 24, 1887, whereby Zanzibar granted the Association a 50-year lease to control an interrupted stretch of the Indian Ocean coast of what is today Kenya, from Wanga up to Kipini.  As such, it laid the legal framework upon which the Association (and then the IBEAC) could build the British colonial regime in East Africa.  Naturally, Zanzibar signed the agreement under duress; however, it spared the sultanate from much grief and harassment, as it was already losing control of the ceded regions anyway.  In 1890, Zanzibar itself became a British protectorate, although the British would maintain a light hand.

 

[2].

Imperial British East Africa Company / Charter. Dated 3rd September, 1888.

London: Harewood & Stephenson, 1888.

14 pp. on thick paper [thus pp. 13-26 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This is the official printing of the ‘Birth Certificate’ of the Imperial British East Africa Company, dated September 3, 1888, being the Charter of the Company, granted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria.  It essentially gave the IBEAC the full rights to govern and commercially exploit British East Africa on behalf of the crown, in return for fulling certain conditions of development.

 

[3].

Agreement between His Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar and Gerald Herbert Portal, Acting English Consul General. / August 31, 1889.

[No Printer, but London, 1889].

2 pp. on thick paper [thus pp. 27-8 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This document is a corollary to #1 above, in that it is an agreement between the Sir Gerald Herbert Portal, the British Consul General in East Africa, acting on behalf of IBEAC, and the Sultan of Zanzibar, dated at Zanzibar, August 31, 1889.  Hereby, Zanzibar leased additional territories along the Kenya coast to the IBEAC, plus, various Somali ports (including Mogadishu).

 

[4].

Imperial British East Africa Company. Deed of Settlement, Dated 1st August, 1889.

[No Printer, but London, 1889].

55 pp. on thick paper [thus pp. 29-88 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This lengthy and meticulously detailed document is the ‘Deed of Settlement’, essentially the bylaws governing the IBEAC’s operations, dated August 1, 1889.  It defines the Company’s division of capital, the rights and privileges of shareholders, the rules for transferring shares, the responsibilities of the directors, the rules for meetings, accounting and auditing standards, and various other clauses to ensure good governance.  Interestingly, it includes a list of the Company’s founding shareholders, with their addresses and the amounts of their investments, revealing many ‘big names’ of the British colonial and financial firmament.  Despite the ‘iron clad’ legal structure of the Deed, as events would turn out, the Company’s principals found ways to evade the specified financial controls, as the IBEAC would soon be rightly accused of profligate spending and self-dealing on the part of its directors, so leading to the organization’s downfall.

 

[5].

[Suite of 21 Protectorate Treaties between Native Chiefs and the British East African Association].

[No Printer, but London, 1887 or shortly thereafter].

21 ff., printed single-sided on thick paper [thus pp. 87-128 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This is a fascinating suite of 21 treaties between the British East African Association and various local tribal chiefs, all from the year 1887, whereby these rulers placed their territories under the protection of the Association.  The treaties all feature unform text and after providing the name of the chief, it follows that he is to “decare that he/they have placed all his country and peoples under the British East African Association”, and that this is done “voluntarily”.  The treaties are signed on behalf of the Association by its agent, E.N. Mackenzie.

 

[6].

List of Treaties made with Chiefs on the River Tana. / Treaty made by J. Staurt, late Company’s Agent at Lamu.

[No Printer, but London, 1889].

1f., printed single-sided on thick paper [thus pp. 129-130 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This is a list of 10 protectorate treaties signed between the IBEAC and native chiefs, dated between March 18 and July 21, 1889.  The record gives the names of the chiefs, their place of residence, the dates of the treaty, along with any remarks.

 

[7].

[Sample Template for Protectorate Treaties between the IBEAC and Native Chiefs].

[No Printer, but London, 1889].

2 ff., printed single-sided on fine wove paper with the header of a coloured IBEAC flag, plus, the Company’s seal adorning the first leaf [thus pp. 121-132 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

 

This is a sample template for treaties between the IBEAC and indigenous chiefs, whereby the local rulers were to agree that their territories were to become protectorates of the Company.  The form, which has its particulars left blank, is printed on fine wove paper, headed by the coloured standard of the IBEAC.  The treaties obligate the chiefs to “cede all his sovereign rights and rights of government” to the Company and to fly the IBEAC flag.

 

[8].

[Flags of Imperial British East Africa Company].

[No Printer, but London, 1889].

1 f. printed in colour, single-sided, on a smaller sheet of slightly glossy paper, followed by 3 pp. printed double-sided on leaves of full-sized thick paper [thus pp. 135-40 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

This leaf features images of the three versions of the official flag of the Imperial British East Africa Company, to be used on various occasions, followed by official correspondence from the Foreign Office approving of the flags and mandating the circumstances of their use.

 

[9].

Treaties and Papers Relating to or Affecting Zanzibar and the Countries Lying Inland.

London: Harewood & Stephenson, [circa 1888-1889].

78 pp., [1f., title], on thick paper [thus pp. pp. 141-230 of the added hand-stamped pagination, plus an unpaginated leaf].

 

This is valuable historical reference, in that it provides the text of 24 documents, including treaties between various European powers and/or the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and key pieces of correspondence relating to Zanzibar, dating from 1844 up to 1887.  This provides the legal genealogy of the region, upon which the IBEAC would build its formal status.  Some examples include the Franco-Omani Treaty of 1884; various agreements between Britain and Zanzibar, including those concerning the banning of the slave trade; German-Zanzibari accords, Anglo-German treaties regarding the division of East Africa, and recent correspondence from the Britich Prime Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury.

 

[10].

The Imperial British East Africa Company, Incorporated by Royal Charter. Prospectus. London: William Clowes and Sons, August 14, 1889.

4pp., folio (27 x 45 cm), folding [thus pp. 231 of the added hand-stamped pagination, plus 3 unpaginated pp.].

 

This is the Prospectus for the Imperial British East Africa Company, dated London, August 14, 1889, listing its Court of Directors, its Bankers, Auditors and Brokers, and noting its prestigious address at 2 Pall Mall East, London.  It notes that the Company had proposed capital outlay of £2 million, in the form of 100,000 shares of £20 each.  The document outlines the IBEAC’s legal mandates and practical objectives, including the establishment of flourishing agrarian colonies, busy trading ports and the building grand infrastructure, the highlight of which was a railway from Mombasa to Uganda.

 

[11].

[Untitled Map of British East Africa].

London: W.m Clowes and Sons, [1889].

Lithograph on thin paper, folding, 26 x 43.5 cm (staining to upper left).

 

This rare map showcases East Africa in the wake of the creation of the Imperial British East Africa Company and the establishment of its authority over what would become Kenya and Uganda.  The map embraces all the territory extending from the northernmost reaches of Mozambique (‘Portuguese East Africa’) up to southern Somalia and inland well into the ‘Congo Free State’ (the modern DRC).  The focus of the map is upon the ‘Imperial British East Africa Company’s Territory’ and the ‘German Sphere of Influence’ (Deutsch-Ostafrika, or Tanganyika, today’s mainland Tanzania), to the south.

 

While the ‘Boundary between the British & German Spheres of Influence’ is decently demarcated roughly along what is today’s Kenya-Tanzania border, the rest of British East Africa’s frontiers are left completely undefined.  While the coastlines are well represented, the coverage of the interior is quite sparce, labelling only the great volcanic peaks (ex. Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro, etc.) and the major lakes and some rivers.  The ‘Company’s Station’, at ‘Otto Borurova’ is marked as being the IBEAC’s only inland base.  On the coast, the IBEAC’s HQ of Mombasa is prominently labelled, as are other major ports, while Zanzibar is shown off the coast of German East Africa.

 

Importantly, the shaded pasts of the coasts, running uninterrupted from the northern tip of Mozambique up through German East Africa and into British East Africa, as far north as Kipini (at the mouth of the Tana River), plus, some Somali ports, represents the territories ceded by the Sultan of Zanzibar to German and British entities.  Specifically, as noted earlier, in 1887, the sultan granted a 50-year lease to the British East Africa Association, the IBEAC’s predecessor organization, for the coastal areas from Wanga to Kipini, while in 1889 Zanzibar leased the Company various Somali ports (including Mogadishu).

 

Interestingly, the map shows a semi-circular bounded area along the Kenya coast above Kipini, labelled ‘Witu’.  This refers to the Witu Sultanate, a micro-state that was home to many former slaves who had escaped Zanzibari captivity.  Witu became a German protectorate in 1885, until it was signed over to become a protectorate of the IBEAC in 1890.  These details give an indication as to the dating of the map, as being 1889, as it shows Zanzibar’s new cessions of that year, but still shows Witu as being outside of the IBEAC’s authority.

 

[12].

The Imperial British East Africa Company. Report of the Court of Directors to the Founders, to be presented at The First General Meeting, to be held on Thursday, the 6th June, 1889, at the Offices of the Company.

London: William Clowes and Sons, 1889.

12 pp., including title [thus pp. 232-243 of the added hand-stamped pagination].

(with restored loss to last 2 leaves, slightly affecting printed area).

 

This fascinating document is the first AGM report from the IBEAC’s directors addressed to its founding shareholders, detailing the state of the Company’s colonization development efforts about 9 months after its establishment.  Topics include combatting the continuing scourge of domestic slavery; hiring staff to serve in East Africa; exploiting caravan routes and accessing the deep interior regions; expanding trade; building roads; extending steamship services along the coasts; improving ports and public works; building telegraph lines; planning the Uganda Railway; managing relations with indigenous chiefs; providing coinage; civil administration; medical services; revenue collection; agricultural production; and the status of British Indian subjects living in East Africa.  The document concludes with a ‘Balance Sheet’ for the IBEAC, dated April 30, 1889.  It notes the Company’s agents had £10,760 in depts, while the IBEAC possessed £41,873,15s.,7d. in Assets.

 

[13].

The Imperial British East Africa Company. Form of Application for Shares.

[No Imprint, but London, 1889].

1 f., folding (25 x 38 cm), unpaginated (slight restored loss at gutter slightly affecting printed area).

 

This is a sample Application form for prospective shareholders to request the purchase of shares in the IBEAC, with the particulars left blank, to be filled out by the applicants and sent to the Company’s bankers.  The cost per share, as mandated by the Prospectus above, was £20.

 

Provenance

 

The present example of the sammelband comes from the papers of John Rutherford Alcock (1809-1897), the first British diplomatic representative to live in Japan.  Alcock was a close friend of Pelly, which likely explains how the book came into his possession.

Subsequently, the work was acquired by Hugh Gordon Lowder (c. 1859 – 1965), a China-born British bibliophile who spent his career working for the Chinese Customs Service.  The book bears his pastedown ex-libris tag of the ‘H.G. Lowder Library’ to the front endpaper, while ‘Lowder’ appears in gilt to the foot of the spine.

 

A Note on Rarity

 

The present work is extremely rare, as only a handful of examples would have been made for restricted circulation to the Imperial British East Africa Company’s major stakeholders.  We can trace only 3 institutional examples, held by the Bodleian Library (Oxford University), King’s College London Library, and Northwestern University Library.  Moreover, we are not aware of any sales records for any other examples.

 

Sir Lewis Pelly: The ‘Elder Statesman’ of the Imperial British East Africa Company

 

Sir Lewis Pelly (1825 – 1892), the compiler of the present work was, by the time he became one of the founding directors of the IBEAC, one of the British Empire’s most experienced overseas political agents, having spent decades operating in India, Persia and East Africa.  He was born in Gloucestershire to an esteemed family; his grandfather was the Sir John Pelly, who served as both the Governor of the Bank of England and of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

 

Pelly joined the East India Company’s Bombay Army at the age of 15 and participated in the British conquest of the Sindh.  Subsequently, he left active military service to assume a political role in the service of the Bombay Presidency, fulfilling administrative roles in the Sindh and Baroda State.

 

Commencing his long involvement with Persia, he served in senior military administrative positions during the Anglo-Persian War of 1856-7.  Returning to India, he was made a judge in Karachi, in 1859.

 

In 1860, Pelly returned to Persia, where he became the Secretary of the British Legation in Tehran.  During this period, he made astoundingly long trips on horseback, feats that greatly impressed his superiors.  Notably his rode from Tehran to Trebizond (in Turkey, on the Black Sea) and from Tehran to Calcutta.  He also undertook a vital diplomatic mission to Herat.

 

Sir Henry Bartle Frere, the Governor of Bombay (1862-7), made Pelly his protégé, which greatly advanced his career.  In 1861, Pelly went to Bahrain, forging an agent that placed the island sheikhdom in the British orbit.

 

Relevant to the present work, in 1862, Pelly became the British Consul in Zanzibar, where he aided the Sultan in his bid to gain full autonomy from Oman.

 

Pelly then returned to Persia, when he served as the British political resident, from 1862 to 1872.  In this capacity he was instrumental in the construction of the Persian Gulf Telegraph Cable and facilitating steamship navigation in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.  In 1865, he led an important British delegation to Riyadh to meet the ruler of the Second Saudi State.  He also played a key role in establishing the independence of Qatar, in the wake of the Qatari–Bahraini War (1867-8).

 

From 1872-3, Pelly, in the company of Sir Henry Bartle Frere, orchestrated an anti-slave trading mission in East Africa.  While the effort was initially unsuccessful, it set in motion the diplomatic pressure that eventually compelled Zanzibar and Oman to agree the end their involvement in the ignoble commerce.

Pelly was next appointed Governor-General of Rajputana (Rajasthan), serving from 1873 to 1878, whereupon he helped to diffuse the ‘Baroda Crisis’.

 

In 1878, Pelly retired from overseas service, repairing to England, where he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in the British Army.  In 1885, he was elected the Conservative MP for Hackney, whereupon he became an early supporter of Women’s Suffrage.

 

Pelly’s final act was to serve as a Director of the Imperial British East Africa Company, where he was regarded as the sage ‘elder statesman’ of the board.

Pelly was an accomplished author and translator, publishing such tracts as Our North West Frontier (1858) and Report on a Journey to Riyadh in Central Arabia (1865), as well as making the first English translation of a Persian classic, The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain (1879).

References: Bodleian Library, Oxford University: (RHO) 100.221 s. 18; King’s College London: Foyle Special Collections: [FCDO Historical Collection 2] FOL. DT431 IMP;

Northwestern University: HF3508.A3 I674 1888; OCLC: 681132215, 703546161;