28 Facts About Lewis Pelly

Lieutenant General Sir Lewis Pelly was a British East India Company officer, and then an imperial army and political officer.

Lewis Pelly was the son of John Hinde Pelly of Hyde House, Gloucestershire, and his wife Elizabeth Lewis.

Lewis Pelly then transferred to the civil service of Sind Division until 1856, being promoted to captain in 1855.

Lewis Pelly was secretary to Sir James Outram during the occupation of Bushire and Kharg Island.

Lewis Pelly served as brigade major in the Frontier Force of the Scinde Irregular Horse, commanded by Jacob, in 1858.

Lewis Pelly was secretary of the British legation in Tehran at the court of Persia from 1859 to 1860: taking up the post, he rode to Tehran from Trebizond.

Lewis Pelly departed to visit Sultan Jan in Herat, with a small party and six horses, in September 1860.

In 1860 Lewis Pelly had travelled overland on a horse, in uniform, from Tehran most of the way to Calcutta, a feat that impressed Sir Bartle Frere.

In 1861 Lewis Pelly went to the Comoros Islands, where he was shipwrecked on Johanna ; and to Mozambique.

Lewis Pelly was then appointed political agent and consul at Zanzibar.

Lewis Pelly took the side of Majid bin Said in the dispute.

From Zanzibar, Lewis Pelly visited and reported on the Seychelle Islands in 1862.

Lewis Pelly was involved in surveys, of the north end of the Gulf, and on the proposed route.

Lewis Pelly caused some confusion by a proposal for radical change in British arrangements, organised around a centre on the Musandam Peninsula.

Lewis Pelly officially visited Riyadh in 1865 to meet with the ruler of the Second Saudi State, Faisal bin Turki.

Lewis Pelly made an inland journey to the Nejd, and an associated map.

When he was in a position to make a show of strength, in autumn 1868 Lewis Pelly sailed to Bahrain with the sloops HMS Daphne and HMS Nymphe, and the gunboats HMS Clyde and HMS Hugh Rose.

Lewis Pelly was promoted to major in 1861, lieutenant colonel in 1866, and colonel in 1871.

On 21 June 1873, Lewis Pelly was appointed agent to the governor general of Rajputana, remaining in this post until 1878.

Lewis Pelly had Malhar Rao arrested in January 1875, and tried by a commission.

Lytton had Lewis Pelly write to the emir, who found reasons against the proposed "Lewis Pelly mission", which would have been an unpopular concession.

In January 1877 Lewis Pelly met the sadr-i a'zam Sayyid Nur Muhammad Shah representing the emir, Sher Ali Khan, in Peshawar.

Lewis Pelly stated that the admission of British agents to Afghanistan was a prerequisite for talks.

Lewis Pelly became a director of the Imperial British East Africa Company.

Lewis Pelly died in Falmouth on 22 April 1892, and is buried adjacent to Rutherford Alcock at Merstham in Surrey.

In 1878 Lewis Pelly married Amy Henrietta Lowder, who was born in 1847 at Calne in Wiltshire to the Rev John Samuel Lowder.

Lewis Pelly's father was an Anglican chaplain in Shanghai, and died by drowning in 1849.

Lewis Pelly died on 31 May 1924, in Eccleston Street, London.