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{{Short description|British intelligence officer (1807–1842)}}
{{for|the California politician|Arthur H. Connolly Jr.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Arthur Conolly
| image =ArthurConolly.jpg
| caption = Arthur Conolly, by [[James Atkinson (Persian scholar)|James Atkinson]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1807|07|2|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1842|06|17|1807|07|2|df=y}}
| placeofburial_label = Place of burial
| placeofburial =
| birth_place = London
| death_place = [[Bukhara]]
| placeofburial_coordinates = 
| nickname =
| allegiance =
| branch =
| rank =
| unit =
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| battles =
| awards =
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}
'''Arthur Conolly''' (2 July 1807, London – 17 June 1842, [[Bukhara]]) was a British [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] officer, explorer and writer. He was a captain of the [[6th Bengal Light Cavalry]] in the service of the [[British East India Company]].<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Conolly, Arthur|volume=12}}</ref> He 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.

==Biography==
A descendant of an [[Ó Conghalaigh]] clan of Ireland, Conolly was a cousin of [[William Hay Macnaghten|Sir William Macnaghten]], Secretary of the British East India Company's Political and Secret Department.<ref name="multiple"/>

As a sixteen-year-old impressionable cadet, he sailed to [[Company rule in India | India]] on the ''Grenville'' and listened to [[Reginald Heber]], the newly-appointed [[Diocese of Calcutta of the Church of North India| Bishop of Calcutta]], evangelize. Thereafter, Conolly sought to win over Muslims to a "kindlier" view of Christians, the first step - in his view - of propagating the Gospel.<ref name="multiple"/>

In July 1840, in a correspondence with Major [[Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet |Henry Rawlinson]], who had been recently appointed as the [[Political officer (British Empire) | political agent]] in [[Kandahar]], Conolly stated:

<blockquote>You've a great game, a noble game, before you.<ref>J.W. Kaye, Lives of Indian Officers, 2 vols, (1867), ii, p.101. cited in the 2000 Lectures and Memoirs, by the British Academy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RZ7p__t5l_QC&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q&f=false Chapter: The Legend of the Great Game by Malcolm Yap. pages 180-1]</ref></blockquote>

Conolly believed that Rawlinson's new post gave him the opportunity to advance humanitarianism in [[Afghanistan]], and summed up his hopes:<ref>2000 Lectures and Memoirs, by the British Academy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RZ7p__t5l_QC&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q&f=false Chapter: The Legend of the Great Game by Malcolm Yap. pages 180-1]</ref>

<blockquote>
If the British Government would only play the grand game – help Russia cordially to all that she has a right to expect – shake hands with [[Qajar Iran | Persia]] – get her all possible amends from [[Uzbeks | Oosbegs]] – force the [[Emir of Bokhara | Bokhara Amir]] to be just to us, the Afghans, and other Oosbeg states, and his own kingdom – but why go on; you know my, at any rate in ''one'' sense, ''enlarged'' views. ''Inshallah!'' The expediency, nay the necessity of them will be seen, and we shall play the noble part that the first Christian nation of the world ought to fill."<ref name="multiple"/></blockquote>

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 traveller and writer.<ref>''Journey to the North of India through Russia, Persia and Afghanistan'', Lt. Arthur Conolly. London, Richard Bentley, 1834. [http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=afghanuno Volume 1] and [https://archive.org/stream/journeytothenort025018mbp#page/n0/mode/2up Volume 2]</ref>

[[File:Ark Bukhara.jpg|thumb|The Ark Fortress in Bukhara]]
In 1841, in an attempt to counter the growing penetration of Russia into Central Asia, Conolly unsuccessfully tried to persuade the various [[khanate]]s there to put aside their differences. In November 1841 he was captured while on a rescue mission to free fellow British officer Lieutenant Colonel [[Charles Stoddart]], held in [[Bukhara]].<ref>[[s:Dictionary of Indian Biography/Conolly, Arthur]]</ref> The two were executed by the [[Emir]] of Bukhara, [[Nasrullah Khan (Bukhara)| Nasrullah Khan]], on 24 June 1842 on charges of spying for the [[British Empire]]. They were both beheaded in the square in front of the [[Ark of Bukhara]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/31|url= http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Dictionary_of_National_Biography_volume_12.djvu/31|publisher= wikisource.org |access-date= 16 September 2012}}</ref> Arthur Conolly's elder brother, Lieutenant [[Henry Valentine Conolly]], administrator of Malabar, was murdered in 1855 in [[Calicut]] (in present-day [[Kerala]], South India).

==Legacy==
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 [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp01003&rNo=0&role=sit portrait] by [[James Atkinson (Persian scholar)|James Atkinson]] is in the British [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]]. His 1840–1842 diaries as well as his letters and reports to [[John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton|Sir John Hobhouse]] and William Cabell are in the [[British Library]]; his 1839 letters to [[John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby|Viscount Ponsonby]] are in the [[Durham University Library]].

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="multiple">[[#refBasic2006|Brysac, Shareen; and Meyer, Karl]]. Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia. Basic Books.</ref>
}}

===Bibliography===
{{Commons category|Arthur Conolly}}
* 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}}
*{{cite book| last = Hopkirk| first = Peter| author-link = Peter Hopkirk| title = [[The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia]]| publisher = [[Kodansha International]]| pages = [https://archive.org/details/greatgame00pete/page/564 564]| year = 1992| isbn = 9781568360225| ref = refPeterHopkirk1992}}
*{{cite book |author2=[[Brysac, Shareen]] |author=[[Karl E. Meyer|Meyer, Karl]] | title = Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2006| pages = 704| isbn = 9780465045761|ref=refBasic2006}}
*Stephen M. Bland ''Does it yurt? Travels in Central Asia or How I Came to Love the Stans'', Hertfordshire Press, 2016, {{ISBN|978-1910886298}}
*Leonard Arthur Bethell, ''Tales from the Outposts - Vol 1, Frontiers of Empire''. Edinburgh: Blackwood. 1st edition 1932, pp 267-268.
* Rev. Joseph Wolff (1795 - 1862). ''Narrative of a mission to Bokhara, in the years 1843-1845, to ascertain the fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly''. London, J.W. Parker, 1845. First and second (revised) edition both came out in 1845. Reprints:
**New York, Harper & Bros., 1845
**Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood & Sons, 1848
**New York, Arno Press, 1970 {{ISBN|0-405-03072-X}}
**Elibron Classics, 2001, {{ISBN|1-4021-6116-6}}
**''A mission to Bokhara''. Edited and '''abridged''' with an introduction by Guy Wint. London, Routledge & K. Paul, 1969. {{ISBN|0-7100-6456-X}}

{{FRS 1839}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conolly, Arthur}}
[[Category:1807 births]]
[[Category:1842 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]
[[Category:Central Asian studies scholars]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:The Great Game]]
[[Category:British spies against the Russian Empire]]

Arthur Conolly - Revision history

Bot at 07:56, 6 October 2022