Samuel Barrett Miles
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Samuel Barrett Miles (2 October 1838 – 28 August 1914) was a
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
officer who served as a diplomat in various Arabic-speaking countries, notably Oman, which he came to know better than any other European of the time. The notes that he made were published after his death as ''The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf''.


Early years

Samuel Barrett Miles was born on 2 October 1838, the son of Major-General Miles. His father was in the military service of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. Miles was educated at Harrow. He joined the
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
in 1857, the year of the
Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...
. He entered the 7th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry as an ensign, was promoted to lieutenant in 1860 and became regimental quarter-master in 1864. In November 1866 he moved with his regiment to
Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...
. The next year he was appointed Cantonment Magistrate and Assistant Resident at Aden.


Political agent in the Gulf region

The regiment returned to India in March 1869. Soon after, Miles applied for a transfer to the Political Service. His first appointment was to
Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...
, where he stayed on the
Makran Makran (), also mentioned in some sources as ''Mecran'' and ''Mokrān'', is the southern coastal region of Balochistan. It is a semi-desert coastal strip in the Balochistan province in Pakistan and in Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman. I ...
coast. Miles was appointed Political Agent and Consul at
Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
, in Oman, in October 1872. He spent most of his subsequent career as a political agent in Oman. Other appointments included Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, Consul-General of
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
(1879), Political Agent and Consul-General of
Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
(1881), Political Agent in the North West Province and Oudh (1885) and Political Resident in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
. Miles came to Oman during the reign of
Turki bin Said Sultan Turki bin Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi (; 1832 – 4 June 1888), was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 30 January 1871 to 4 June 1888. He acceded following his victory over his cousin, Iman Azzan bin Qais at the Battle of Dhank. On Turki's d ...
(1871–1888), whom the British had assisted in ending the conservative religious revolution of Azzan bin Qais. Miles made several journeys from Muscat into the interior of the country to gain a better understanding of the people for diplomatic purposes. He was an Arabist and Orientalist, and developed a deep knowledge of the history and the people of the region, recording his findings in copious notes. He described the country, architecture, local customs, social conditions, agriculture and fishing. His erudition allowed him to detect echoes of the distant past in modern times. He noted that India and Arabia still used a measure of weight that had been used in ancient
Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...
.


Later career

Miles was acting Political Resident in the Gulf from 1885 until October 1886. In 1887 he returned to India where he was promoted to Colonel. He was Political Resident at
Mewar Mewar, also spelled as Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasth ...
from 1887 to 1893, when he retired from the army and returned to England. Miles wrote several papers that were published by the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
. He married Ellen Marie Kay in 1877. They had one son, Harry William Miles, who was killed during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
(1914–1918). Samuel Barrett Miles died on 28 August 1914 aged 75. He had intended to work up his notes into a book, but went blind several years before he died. Five years later his widow published the work he had completed as ''The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf''.


Bibliography

Published work by Samuel Barrett Miles include: * * * * * * * *Tenets of the Ibadhi sect *Outlines of the history of Oman, 1728–1883 *Note on the tribes of Oman *Note on the sect of Ibadhiyah of Oman


References

Citations Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Samuel Barrett 1838 births 1914 deaths British Indian Army officers People educated at Harrow School British Arabists British orientalists History of Oman