[OTTOMAN EMPIRE] Passport of safe conduct for travel to Malta issued to Captain Benjamin Adams (17th Light Dragoons) by the British consul at Alexandria, 17 May 1823.

[Alexandria in Egypt : British Consulate, 1823]. Lithographed pro-forma document with manuscript entries, 270 x 385 mm, on wove paper watermarked with an Eagle and FAG in roman (cf. Edward Heawood, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Hilversum, 1950, p. 24); embossed paper seal of the British Consulate, Alexandria in Egypt intact at lower left; signed by Peter Lee, Consul, at lower right, and countersigned by consular chancellor Guido Domenico Vedova at lower left; old horizontal and vertical folds with tiny perforations at the junctions, otherwise extremely well preserved.

This rare passport of safe conduct was issued by the British consul at Alexandria, Peter Lee, to Captain Benjamin Adams of the 17th Light Dragoons. Adams would have served with his regiment in both India and Egypt before making his way back to England via Malta, Sicily and the Continent. (The details of his regiment and route of his journey are known from an associated document issued to him in Malta in August 1823). One particularly interesting detail contained in the document is the public health warning the consul provides to any would-be Italian, Ottoman, British, Maltese or other official who might read it: one of his handwritten entries states explicitly that the city from whence the passport holder has travelled is experiencing daily outbreaks of the plague. 

Peter Lee was a prominent English merchant at Alexandria. Following his death in 1825, he was succeeded as consul by John Barker. Both Lee and Barker were subordinate to the Consul-General in Egypt, Henry Salt.

Transcript of the document (manuscript entries are in italics):

‘Noi Pietro Lee, per Sua Maestà Britannica, Console ai Alessandria d’Egitto e sue Dipendenze.

Partendo da questa Città e Porto per trasferirsi a Malta con Bastimento di Bandiera inglese il Sig. Cap. Ben. Adams soldato della Gran Brettagna.

Lo accompagnano col presente Nostro Passaporto pregando e ricenando chiunque può appartenere di lasciarlo liberar ente transitare, e di prestargli ogni assistenza e protezione in questo suo viaggio sicuri della Nostra corrispondenza in simili ed altri incontri:

In quanto all pubblica Salute si dichiara qualmente si manifestano quotidianamente … reiterate accidente di Peste in questa Città.

In fede di che si rilascia il presente sottoscritto di Nostro proprio pugno, corroborato del solito Consolare Sigillo, e contrassegnato dal Cancelliere di questo Ufficio.

Dato da Alessandria d’Egitto li Diciassette Maggio dell’anno Mille ottocento Ventitré.

[Signed] Pietro Lee, Con.

[Countersigned] Guido Domenico Vedova (chancellor)