British relations with Oman started in the early days of British interest in Persia and India.  In 1646 the Imam Nasir bin Murshid and Philip Wylde of the East India Company signed a treaty giving 'the English' exclusive trading rights at Sohar.  When the British ship 'Fellowship' called at Muscat in 1650, shortly after the recapture of the town from the Portuguese by the Omanis which had been achieved with some British help, the Captain was offered the 'best house in the town' if the East India Company would settle a trading 'factory' there and so well disposed was the Imam, Sayyid Sultan bin Saif, that in 1659 he negotiated a treaty with Colonel Rainsford on behalf of the East India Company providing that 'the English' should have one of the forts, be given part of the town for residence, provide a garrison of 100 soldiers and share the customs with the Omanis.

However, Colonel Rainsford died and, by the time a successor arrived to renegotiate the treaty - apparently a diplomatic necessity in those days - the Imam had second thoughts, perhaps as the result of manoeuvrings by the Dutch, who were then strong and successful rivals of the British for the trade of the area.  'The English' were nonetheless invited to trade in Muscat as merchants and to start a 'factory'.  Thereafter they certainly visited Muscat to trade but there is no evidence that a 'factory' was ever established.  By the late eighteenth century British interests were being looked after by a local merchant who acted as 'Consul for the English'.

In 1798 Mirza Mahdi Ali Khan, a Persian gentleman of good family who had been selected by the East India Company for the appointment of British Resident at Bushire, was sent to Muscat in the 'Panther' to negotiate a 'Qaulnameh' or treaty with Sayyid Sultan bin Ahmad

This provided - at an expenditure of Rs. 2,820 - that Sayyid Sultan would always take the part of the British government in international affairs, deny any commercial or other foothold to the French and Dutch, dismiss employees of French nationality, exclude French vessels from Muscat and permit the British to establish a large fortified factory and a sepoy garrison at Bandar Abbas, which Sayyid Sultan then controlled by virtue of a lease from Persia.

In 1800 Captain John Malcolm, on the first of his many missions to the Persian Gulf, was instructed to seek even closer ties with Oman and he signed a further treaty with Sayyid Sultan - on the Imam's ship the 'Gunjava' in the anchorage between Qishm and Henjam - which confirmed the former treaty in its entirety and further provided that "an English gentleman of respectability should always reside at the port of Muscat" and that the friendship between the two countries should endure "until the end of time or the sun and moon cease in their revolving careers".   

The more positive British approach in 1800 was a reaction on the part of the British authorities in India to Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and his designs for an eastern empire.  The first Political Agent was Assistant Surgeon A. H. Bogle, who had accompanied Captain Malcolm from Bombay to Muscat in the 'Intrepid' to become the first British resident representative on the south side of the Persian Gulf.  (It is thus interesting that the last British ship to remain in the Gulf before the withdrawal of the British naval, military and air forces in 1972 was H. M. S. Intrepid).  Sayyid Sultan had asked that a British Doctor should be sent to attend him in place of the Frenchman, whom he had been obliged to dismiss in accordance with the treaty.  Bogle quickly established himself in the regard of the Ruler but unfortunately died "a victim of the Muscat climate" in less than a year.  He was succeeded in 1801 by Captain David Seton of the Bombay Army, who was obliged to take a year's leave in India in 1802 on account of ill health though he returned in 1803.  At this time the Resident lived in a house provided for him by the government of Oman, which was described by Lorimer as "a miserable hovel" and he was not permitted to fly the British flag.

In November 1804 Sayyid Sultan was killed at sea in a fight with the Qawasim of Ras al Khaimah.  Shortly before this the Residency in Muscat had been withdrawn but it was re-established in May 1805 under Captain Seton who was instructed to obtain the recognition of the treaties of 1798 and 1800 by Sultan's successor, Sayyid Badr bin Saif.  When the Residency was reinstituted it apparently had wider functions than hitherto as the Bombay Government stated that it would exist for general purposes and " not solely or principally for the service of Bombay".

In 1840 a British Resident, Captain Hamerton, was appointed to Muscat on account of the danger posed by the Egyptian invasion of Arabia.  However, shortly after this the Residency was moved to Zanzibar, then the most important part of the Sultan of Oman's dominions, where it remained until the death of Sayyid Said bin Sultan in 1856 when Oman and Zanzibar became separate Sultanates.  In 1861 it was decided to re-establish the Residency in Muscat.  The illiterate Jew who had latterly been looking after British interests had put Sayyid Thuwaini bin Said at a disadvantage with his brother Sayyid Majid, who had been advised by the British Resident in Zanzibar, during the proceedings concerning the succession leading up to the Canning award by which Sayyid Thuwaini was recognised as Sultan of Muscat and Oman and Sayyid Majid as Sultan of Zanzibar.   

Some of the earlier ones were drawn from the Indian Navy and the rest from the Indian Political Service.  However, those who also held the post of Consul were appointed by the King's or Queen's commission and were responsible in their consular function to the Foreign Office in London.  Thus incumbents were styled Political Agent and H. M. Consul, though the local people tended, at least latterly, to refer to them as the Consul rather than the 'Mu'tumad'.  The Political Resident in Bushire, and later Bahrain, exercised supervision over the Muscat post until it became an Embassy in 1971.

The Embassy site

From January 18th, 1800 when the agreement between the Imam of Muscat and the East India Company was signed establishing the British Residency in Muscat, until the end of 1863 the Sultan paid the rent for the building occupied by the Representative, Whether the site of the Agency in the early 1800's was the same as the present site is not clear but it seems likely, as early travellers record the British representative as living on the sea-front. It is certain, however, that occupation of the present site goes back to at least 1860 when it is recorded by Lieutenant A.W. Stiffe in his survey of that date and placed on his map of Muscat and Matrah in its waterfront position.

The Main Building

The earlier building on the present Embassy site dated back to the 1820's but the exact date of tits occupation by the British representative has not been established. In 1863 the British, through the Government of India, tried to purchase the building but its owner, Bibi Zainub bint Mohammed Ameer, refused. However in 1870 she offered to sell it for $4,500 and it was finally purchased in 1878 when it was decided that no other suitable building was available in Muscat and the British did not want this one to fall into other hands. The purchase price was $3,650 house property in Muscat having deteriorated in value in the intervening years. Between 1870 and 1878 Rupees 1,900 were spent on repairing the house to mitigate its dangerous condition and to shore up a central portion which began to give way.

The house was built in the Arab style with a well in the centre, surrounded by arched patios. It had a sea-frontage of 113 feet and a depth of 90 feet, giving an area of nearly 10,170 square feet. The adjacent garden - about 70 feet square - was given to the Agent by His Highness Sayyid Turki. This had formerly been stables which, by 1878, had been reduced to a heap of ruins. The house itself consisted of two storeys. At the time of purchase the Agent, Lieutenant Colonel S. B. Miles, reckoned that Rupees 1,500 were needed annually to keep the building in a reasonable state of repair, due to the unfavourable climatic conditions and the proximity to heavily armed batteries.

In 1888 it was decided that a new building should be constructed on the same site. On August 20th, 1889 an agreement was signed with Messrs McKenzie of Karachi for the construction of the new Agency, the cost of the work not to exceed Rupees 80,000. the final cost of the building however was Rupee 87,000 (or $ 5,000). The extra Rupees 7,000 being a grant to Messrs McKenzie from the Government of India to indemnify them for unexpected losses in connection with the construction.  The new Agency was ready for occupation on July 4th, 1890 and Rupees 2,000 was subsequently granted for the purchase of furniture. It was again built in the Arab style with thick walls of small stones imbedded in mud and plastered with gypsum.  The exterior walls and some of the interior ones are 27 inches thick which explains why the building has stood up so well to the elements, and remains comparatively cool in Summer. Perhaps the cyclonic storm which hit Muscat in June 1890 enhanced the need for a really strong building. Between midnight on the 4th and midnight on the 5th 11.24 inches of rain fell, causing much damage, and more than 700 people were drowned. since the population of Muscat inside the walls was at that time, according to Curzon, probably not more than 5,000 souls, it was a heavy toll.

In 1892 the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, on his visit to Muscat described the new Agency building as the handsomest structure in the town, and, "being situated close to a gap in the rocks where a side breeze comes in from the ocean, renders life less insupportable during the appalling heat of the summer months, when the sun's ray, refracted from the glowing rocks, seems literally to scorch, and the rocks themselves are like the walls of a brazen oven". Work on the house, however, was deemed by Major (later Sir) Percy Cox, the Agent from 1899 to 1904, to have been very much "skimped" by the contractor owing to the absence of expert supervision.

The big outside veranda overlooking the sea and the four bathrooms - all of which are on the same side of the house above the main entrance - appear to have been added to the house later but a photograph dated 1902 shows the building to be as it now is. the Agency in Muscat was in fact the first British Mission in the Gulf area to be equipped with modern bathroom facilities. This came about because the 'Stella Polaris', a Norwegian ship charted by an American concern for la luxury world cruise, visited Muscat in April 1935. One of the passengers, an American millionaire called Charles Robert Crane, was amongst those invited to a meal at the Agency. After the meal he was shown to the existing 'facilities', the 'thunder box', and was so appalled that on his return to the United States he sent two complete installations of his own vitreous ware as a gift. Thus for several years Muscat was in advance of Bushire, Bahrain or Kuwait. Later two further installations were made for the visit of Princess Alice.

The beautiful tiles covering most of the bedroom floors probably came from India or Pakistan, and the teak on the dining and drawing room floors may have come from India. The great outside veranda was repaved with black and white tiles which came from Karachi in November 1919. This was in Ronald Wingate's time as Agent and his wife, Mary, went off to Karachi to select these tiles and some chintzes. The wrought iron balustrade on the stair-case is stamped with the name of McKenzie and came from Karachi. Formerly this wrought iron work also formed the balustrade round the big outside veranda but was at some stage replaced by the existing cement one. The stone for the building is local and probably came from the coast east of Muscat or, possibly, from Saih al Malih near Nina Al Fahal. The main gateway and the portico leading into the house were built in Major Bremner's time in the early 1930's, with the help of the Reverend Dirk Dykstra of the American Mission who was here for about 45 years. He built many of the Mission buildings including the hospital in Matrah and the school and is said to have been the first person in Muscat to build with reinforced cement. At the time a second stairway was 'servant stairway' which came down across the courtyard and was condemned as unsafe in 1973 and demolished. In 1974 a new, smaller staircase was put in one corner to provide servant access to the first floor. The Consular premises in Muscat were transferred from the Government of India to Her Majesty's Government in 1947.

From time to time the building has been condemned as unsafe by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (as it used to be called) but due to pressure from incumbents it has been reprieved and has now undergone a 'face-life' and extension of the office space as a result of the post being up-graded to an Embassy in 1971. In 1971 a swimming pool was built in the garden, incorporating about half its original area, During 1972 and 1973 seven new officers for Chancery and the Consular section were constructed on the ground floor on the east side of the building and a stone facade was erected under the outside veranda in harmony with the stone of the rest of the building. On the first floor the improvements included extending the dining room out towards the sea, incorporating the little study and adjacent alcove into the drawing room and converting the large store near the kitchen into a single bedroom and bathroom.

The compound

The Flag pole in the courtyard was used for manumission, i. e. the freeing of slaves, from the time of its erection until about 1963 when Sultan Said told the Consul General that no further certificates of manumission need to be issued as he had instructed his Walis to free any slaves and inform their owners. The Sultan's agreement was always sought - and never refused - before manumission was effected. Slaves seeking manumission clasped the flag pole and were then issued with a certificate in English and Arabic. In the year 1890, under the Treaty of 1873 concerning the abolition of slavery, 32 fugitive salves freed at the Agency. The flag pole was also used as an aid to navigation by day and by night and was shown on the Admiralty charts. The red light on the pole, lined up with one on the wall in the rocks at the back of Muscat, was a leading light for entering the harbour.

The Union Jack ceased to fly from the pole on the day the post became an Embassy, June 28th, 1971, when it was transferred to a pole on the building, as is the practice elsewhere. The Union Jack, the Omani flag and bunting continued, however, to fly from the flag pole on high days and holidays until the pole was dismantled. In November 1972 when some of the crew of H. M. S. Andromeda, which was visiting Muscat, were giving the flag pole a new coat of paint they discovered - nearly to the cost of one of their lives - that the wooden upper structure and yard arm were rotten through and these were therefore removed for safety. Subsequently, in November 1973, the remains of the flagpole were removed except for the existing 'stump'.

On the western extremity of the compound is a tall double wooden gate with  the Crown carved above it. Before the general advent of cars formal visits were done on foot, the Consul or other notables being preceded by servants carrying silver mounted sticks (rather like Drum Majors). The route to the Sultan's Palace was through these gates and on past the Custom's House. Unfortunately no trace can now be found of the silver mounted sticks.

The bell in the inner courtyard downstairs come from S. S. Dahpu which was torpedoed by a Japanese midget submarine through the gap to the east of the harbour on June 28th, 1943, at the moment that Captain was taking his leave of the Consul, Neil Pelly, having called on him. The anchor, still sometimes visible, which is lodged in the sand in the bay belonged to the 'Dahpu' but the force of the explosion separated the Chain which now lies twined round a rock at the eastern side of the harbour.

Anecdotes

The house was suppose to be haunted and Major Chauncy's wife thought she saw a ghost although she later thought it might have been one of the servants. The strange noises she often heard were later traced to the spring hinges of the fly screening doors getting stuck slightly open with damp when east wind blew and then closing with a sharp bang when contracted by the dry 'gharbi'. However, in the Chauncys' time the wife of one of the Political Agents visiting from Bahrain saw a figure swathed in a towel walking round the veranda which she took to be her husband. When she later asked him what he was doing out there not properly dressed he said he had been nowhere near the spot at the time. Stories of the ghost certainly go back to Major Bremner's time, but he is said to have invented them to discourage visitors. The invention, if such it was, was so successful that the farashes would not go upstairs except in pairs!

Until the 1950's formal arrivals and departures from the Consulate were always by sea and a whaler manned by four local sailors was kept for this purpose. When Ronald Wingate arrived in 1919 the whaler was rowed out to meet him off his ship by 4 scarlet clad Negroes (one to each oar). The whaler flew two flags; one a blue Jack with a lion jumping in the corner in a crown for the Political Agent as British Consul for the Foreign Office; and the other a Union Jack with a sort of starfish in the center representing the Star of India for the same person as Political Agent for the Government of India. After an 11 gun salute Wingate was carried ashore pick aback to the stops of the Consulate, there being no jetty. In the 1920's the whaler crew carved a special chair for carrying dignitaries ashore, similar to a cane-bottomed dining chair with arms, with two poles each about 5 foot long fixed to the sides. Unfortunately this chair has, like the silver mounted sticks, disappeared from the scene. Apart from the Consul the only person to be brought ashore by this means was the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the last one to use the chair being Sir Rupert Hay in 1951. Latterly the crew’s uniform was changed to a traditional British-type sailor’s uniform with blue and white shirt and white shorts – which the present launch crews still wear. The seaward entrance to the Consulate used for these arrivals and departures was closed for security reasons in the 1960’s.

A ‘Rogues Gallery’ of Incumbents going back to 1870 is kept on the stairs. At the top of the stairs is Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Jayaker, IMS, who was Agency Surgeon From 1870 to 1900 and acted as Agent during the summer months when the regular incumbent was in ‘recess’ in India. Jayakar discovered a goat in the Shihu territory to which the British Museum gave his name. This is presumably the Arabian Tahr or Waa’l, otherwise known as Hermitages jayakari, which occurs in the Oman Mountains and nowhere else in the world. Major Chauncy apparently initiated the ‘Rogues Gallery’ and wrote round to former Agents, Consuls and Residents or their families for the photographs.

The high temperatures of summer were a problem but, from the re-establishment of the Agency in 1861 until 1947, the British representative together with a member of his staff, a farash and personal servants, went off into camp from about mid-May until about mid-September in Simla or Quetta. Essential business was conducted from there. The only means of cooling oneself before the advent of electricity was punkah – a sort of ceiling fan with a string going from it to the passage outside the room where the ‘punkah wallah’ operated it by pulling on the string with his foot. Some of the rooms still have a hook in the ceiling and a stopped-up hole in the wall as a reminder of those days before air-condition. Air-Conditioning arrived in the late 1940’s. The first of the living rooms to be air-conditioned was the study, since incorporated into the main drawing room, where the then Political Agent kept his extensive collection of butterflies and moths. He had such a high regard for their correct temperature and humidity that this room was reserved for his collection and none was allowed in the room (which he kept locked) except in his presence.

Major Cox and his wife used to sleep on the roof, as many people still do in the heat, but even that was too hot for some of their Indian Servants. Mrs. Cox in fact nearly died one hot night as a result of wrapping herself in a wet blanket, rather than the more usual and lighter wet sheet, in an attempt to keep cool. She caught pneumonia.

Mrs. Cox, the daughter of Surgeon General Hamilton of the Royal Army Medical Corps in India, kept “a troop of apes” living by the stairs to scare off unwanted callers. When Vice-Admiral Boyle Somerville visited Muscat in 1902 he met these colorful characters who “gnashed their teeth, yearningly, on the unfortunate visitor; they leapt and danced at the full extent of their straining waist-chains, clucking and gibbering at him, or hideously shrieking battle, murder, and sudden death; they seized the handrail – mercifully a stout one, and they could only just reach it – and shook it in impotent fury. In brief, they put the wind up you. Mrs. Cox had in 1895 in India kept two monkeys, Toto and Teddy who were “always getting loose and making hay around the place” but whether it was these two that Somerville encountered we do not know.

Naval visits to Muscat harbor have always been the source of excitement. In the early 1900’s when Percy Cox was Agent visits from British warships were occasions for dinners and parties in fancy dress at the Agency. When Curzon visited Muscat on the “Hardinge” in November 1903, the town was lavishly decorated and an arch of bunting 300 yards long linked the Agency, presumably from the wooden gate at the western end of the compound, to the Sultan’s Palace.

At one stage the Consulate had a recreation room for visiting sailors and in the Coxes’ time the India Office thoughtfully provided a billiard table. An old upright piano, bequeathed to the Consulate by the Muscat Levies, was inscribed at the back with “Muscat Infantry Jazz Band” as, apparently, during Sultan Taimur’s time a jazz band as well as a military band was formed.

Other buildings in & around the compound

After completion of the new Agency building in 1890 housing for other members of the staff remained a problem and in 1900 Captain (as he then was) Cox, wrote to Lieutenant Colonel M. J. Meade, Political Resident Persian Gulf, in Bushire, saying "habitable quarters are always very difficult to procure in Muscat and, at times, are not to be had at all".  He recommended that the Government of India should build quarters for the clerical establishment adjacent to the Agency, so that the staff could live close to the Agent to "be available at short notice and to facilitate their getting to the office on occasions of disturbance and petty risings that occur from time to time in Muscat". There were also problems over housing the Agency Surgeon who lived in Matrah. At that time there was no link between Muscat and Matrah except by sea, which created difficulties in rough weather.

Captain Cox recommended that the premises of a British Indian merchant, Ruttonsi Purshotum, which extended from the Agency up to the old Customs Wharf (since incorporated into His majesty's new Palace), should be bought outright. Monsieur Ottaavi, the French Vice-Consul who had arrived in 1894, was also interested in this site and opened negotiations for the purchase  of the whole or part of it for the French Consulate. The Sultan, however, turned the American missionaries out of a house owned by him and leased it to the French. This house was occupied by the French from 1894 until 1914 when their Consulate was closed. The lease was not given up until 1945 whereupon Sultan Said bin Taimur leased it to the British Bank of the Middle East and then to Petroleum Development (Oman) who still occupy it. French representation in Muscat has been rather fragmented. In 1803 Sayyid Sultan declined to accept a French representative sent by Napoleon but for a short time between about 1807 & 1810 a French Consular Agent resided in Muscat. Ottavi established the Vice-Consulate - upgraded to a Consulate in 1901 - in 1894, and when he left in 1901, inspired perhaps by regret at leaving the battle ground to his rival, it was with tears in his eyes that he bade farewell to the British Agent's wife, Mrs. Cox. In 1952 the French Consul in Aden, Monsieur Bartheau, visited Muscat with a view to selling the house presented to Ottavi earlier but he was informed that it no longer belonged to the French Government. Another property adjacent to the old Consulate house appears to have been bought by the French but the house fell down many years ago and a government building was built on the site in 1969. The French Ambassador resident in Kuwait presented his credentials as non-resident Ambassador to Oman in June 1972, and a resident French Ambassador arrived in Muscat in February 1974.

It was feared that if the Russians or Germans wanted Consuls accredited they too might try and obtain the seafront land adjacent to the British Agency, so in 1901 it was purchased for Rs. 50,000 to accommodate the Agency surgeon, three clerks and the telegraph office. (In about 1914 a portion consisting of two flats was sold to the Telegraph Company.) In 1904 a tenement building next to the Customs Whart was purchased to complete the sea-frontage area and the Sepoy Line and house belonging to the Agency Head Clerk, a Mr. de Mello, were bought for a total of Rs. 12,000. Railings were erected all along the seafront to prevent people falling into the sea in the dark. In 1906 the present buildings on this land were completed to provide accommodation for the Head Clerk, the clerk in charge of telegraphs, a 2nd clerk for telegraphs, a 2nd and 3rd clerk for the Agency, plus ten native servants. The house now occupied by the head of Chancery was originally three storeys high but at some stage the third story was removed to leave the existing house, as the foundations were not considered strong enough to bear three.

The Hospital

In April 1899 bubonic plague hit Muscat and Matrah and the question of sanitary control of the ports arose. On October 1st, 1900 the Sultan, Sayyid Faisal, placed the Agency Surgeon in charge of his sanitary administration and staff, and at the same time appointed him personal physician to himself and his family. From 1900 onwards various Agents and Agency Surgeons made efforts to improve the buildings and equipment of the Agency dispensary and in 1910 the hospital just outside the Embassy, now the Muscat General Hospital, was built - presumably on the site of the original dispensary. It was called the Muscat Charitable Hospital. Part of the land on which it stood was purchased by the British Government and part of a grant in Wakaf. The building was put up and maintained by public subscription. It was run by the Agency with running expenses met initially by Her Majesty's Government and then after 1958 half by H. M. G. and half by the Sultan. In March 1970 H. M. G. decided it could no longer continue to finance the hospital and it was handed over to the Oman Government.

The 'Escort Lines'

In 1880 for the first time a military guard was provided for the Agency, consisting of a detachment of Indian infantry. Their accommodation was a few hundred yards from the Embassy under the jebel to the south east and came to be known as the Escort Lines which were purchased in 1909 for Rs. 2,500 from Gopaljee Waljee and buildings on this area were erected sometime after 1911. The mosque in the Embassy compound was built at the beginning of the First World War for the Muscat Infantry Guard. In 1954 the Escort Lines were still occupied by a detachment of the Muscat Infantry which supplied the guard for the Consulate, the Sultan's Palace and the Government Secretariat. The power house on the Escort Lines was erected in or about 1930.

The Rest House

The Rest House - the building behind the Embassy between the present American Embassy and the Hospital - which now accommodates U. K. members of the Embassy, was formerly the American Consulate which was established in Muscat in 1880 and closed in 1917. (The American Embassy was established in June in 1972, in 1929 the building was leased to the Royal Air Force who wanted to erect a small permanent wireless post in Muscat. It was occupied by the Flying Boat Squadron. In 1930 Lieutenant A. J. H. Dove, RE, arrived in Muscat to build a store at the coal depot for storage of petrol and kerosene and to clear the ground at Bait al Falaj for aircraft landing. The building changed hands two or three times between 1930, when it was sold to Malullah bin Jan Habib Murda, and 1936 when it passed to Abdullah, son of Ali Khan Musa Khan. In 1945 the building was vacated by the R. A. F. and the lease was taken over by the Agency.

Communications

Muscat was brought into telegraphic communication with the outside world by means of a cable, 219 knots in length, from Jashk to Muscat in November 1901. In 1932 the Imperial and International Communications Limited, in taking over the Indo-European Telegraph Department appear to have acquired proprietary rights in respect of all buildings and properties belonging to the latter, which included buildings within the Agency wanted the Government of India to purchase the company's share in land and buildings and to rent accommodation to the company. Owing to financial stringency in 1933 they were not prepared to purchase and the buildings occupied by the company continued under joint ownership of the company and the Government of India.

In 1935 Cable and wireless, as it was then called, asked to install a small power plant in Muscat. The then Agent objected on the grounds of proximity as "the noise of an engine however well silenced anywhere in the Agency area would be objectionable".

In 1973 Her Majesty's Government purchased a flat and store within the Embassy compound from Cable and Wireless for  £ 35,000, leaving them with the cable office, a flat above it and a store still in the compound.