Everything about Arthur Conolly totally explained
Arthur Conolly (
1807 - June
1842 Bokhara) (sometimes misspelled
Connolly) was a
British intelligence officer, explorer and writer. He was a captain of the Sixth
Bengal Light Cavalry, who worked for the
British East India Company.
Biography
Conolly participated in many reconnaissance missions into
Central Asia and coined the term
The Great Game to describe the struggle between the
British Empire and the
Russian Empire for domination over Central Asia. In 1829, in a correspondence with Sir Henry Rawlinson, Conolly used the term to describe the "beauty" of the mission Russia and Britain had undertaken "to civilize Asian races." Often travelling in disguise, he used the name "Khan Ali" in a word-play on his true name. In late 1829 he left
Moscow for the
Caucasus and Central Asia, arriving in
Herat in September 1830 and in India in January 1831. In
1834 he published an account of his trip, which established his reputation as a traveler and writer.
In
1841, in an attempt to counter the growing penetration of Russia into Central Asia, Conolly unsuccessfully tried to persuade the various khanates to put aside their differences. In November 1841 he was captured on a rescue mission to free fellow British officer Lieutenant Colonel
Charles Stoddart held in
Bukhara. The two were executed by the
Emir of Bukhara,
Nasrullah Khan in June 1842 on charges of spying for the British Empire.
In
1845, Rev.
Joseph Wolff, who had undertaken an expedition to discover the two officers' fate and barely escaped with his life, published an extensive account of his travels in Central Asia, which made Conolly and Stoddart household names in Britain for years to come.
Conolly's
portrait
by
James Atkinson is in the British
National Portrait Gallery. His
1840-1842 diaries as well as his letters and reports to Sir J. C. Hobhouse and William Cabell are in the
British Library; his
1839 letters to Viscount Ponsonby are in the
Durham University library.
Bibliography
- Lt. Arthur Conolly. Journey to the North of India through Russia, Persia and Afghanistan- (2 Vols.). London, Richard Bentley, 1834. Reprints:
- Elibron Classics, 2002.
- New Delhi, Laurier Books Ltd, Asian Educational Services, 2001, ISBN 81-206-1589-1
Further Information
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