Lady Anne Blunt among the Shaykhs of the Bani Lam of Lower Mesopotamia and their Wadnan horses
From her Journals and Correspondence (J&C, edited by Archer and Flemning), comes an account of the travels of Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt among the Bani Lam of Lower Mesopotamia and Khuzestan. It took place during their 1879 journey through al-Amarah in Lower Mesopotamia through Khuzestan/Arabistan by way of Dezful and Shustar all the way to the port of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf. My comments follow.
J&C, Bagdad, March 18th, 1879:
[…] a messenger had brought a letter from Mr. Wertman to the Bani Lam Sheykh Mizban.. […]
J&C, somewhere in Khuzestan/Arabestan, March 28th, 1879:
We had great luck not to be met or found yesterday or in the night by any of the ghazus between the camps of Mizban and Akul or rather Musa. […]
The Bani Lam cannot however be very particular about their breeds for Beneyeh asked Wilfrid for the use of the grey horse for a little bay mare of his which he called Wadneh Hursan [sic] — Wadnan is one of the breeds now existing with the Bani Lam now called Ketirin [Al Kathir, in the plural], our Nejd friends, and the beautiful little bay horse we saw belonging to one of Mutakh’s men was of Wadnan. This mare of Beneyeh’s might be aseel but was uninteresting — she did not please the horse either, and it seems that these Beni Lam as well as other Bedouins don’t pay any attention to circumstances in these matters […].
[…] Presently a large number of fifty to a hundred khayal had assembled just outside Mizban’s tent and began to sing Aduan, Mizban (“Enemies, Mizban”), Aduan Mizban, etc., and stamp, or strike their spears on the ground beating time to the chanting.
[…] As to peace being made between Musa and Mizban I doubt it — Mizban has killed a son of Musa’s, so there is blood as well as other grievances.
The of the J&C published by Archer and Fleming are very incomplete, but it would appear that Beneyeh was the son of Shaykh Mizban the leader of the Bani Lam, and that he was to accompany Lady Anne and Wilfried on their journey through his tribe’s territory. I looked up him online and sure enough, here he is:
سنة 1904 تولّى رئاسة قبائل بني لام بالعراق الشيخ “غضبان البنية” بعد والده الشيخ بنية بن مزبان بن جنديل، فبسط نفوذه على مساحات واسعة من جنوب العراق من العمارة إلى الكوت، وذاع صيته حتى صار دخوله العمارة يتقدّمه آلاف المسلحين والأتباع.
My translation:
“In 1904, Shaykh Ghadhban al-Beneyeh (Ghazban in Persian) took over the leadership of the tribes of Bani Lam in Iraq, after his father Shaykh Beneyeh (Beneyyan) son of Mizban son of Gandil; he spread his influence on large swaths of Souther Iraq from al-Amarah to al-Kute; his reputations spread to the point that he’d enter al-Amarah preceded by thousands of armed men and followers [source unknown].”
A photo of Sh. Ghadhban son of Beneyeh son of Mizban from Facebook:
He famously supported the Ottomans and opposed the British during and after their 1917 invasion of Iraq. The British opposed his claim to the throne of Iraq, instead supporting Faysal son of the Sharif Hussain of Mecca, and exiled Ghadhban from Iraq twice.