Beni Boo Alli (battle honour)

Beni Boo Alli is an 1821 battle honour of the British Indian Army awarded to all units engaged in a punitive expedition to Eastern Arabia against a fierce and turbulent tribe called the Bani bu Ali.

The Bani Bu Ali tribe (named after their ancestral village Jalan Bani Bu Ali (in present-day Oman) resorted to rampant piracy in Eastern Arabia and the Persian Gulf region leading the East India Company to carry out a punitive expedition in 1819 to Ras al Khaimah which destroyed the pirate base and removed the threat from the Persian Gulf. The Government of the Bombay Presidency also sent a letter of protest through an envoy on a British ship to Eastern Arabia. The Bani bu Ali rose and murdered the pilot of the ship at Rass al Junaiz, resulting in the dispatch of a small punitive expedition from India to Ash Sharqiyah (Oman).

The expedition sailed from Bombay in October 1820 and sailed to Sur via Muscat where they landed. The small force consisting of 380 Indian Infantry, along with 2000 irregulars, proceeded inland to Balad Bani bu Hasan, the tribal capital. On 18 November 1820, this force was attacked and almost annihilated as they approached the capital, with most British officers and two-thirds of the soldiers being killed as the Arabs gave no quarter. The survivors, including many of the wounded, escaped to Muscat from where they were taken to Qishm at the entrance of the Persian Gulf.

The destruction of this force was a major blow to British prestige in Arabia and a second stronger expedition was assembled. This force of 6000 mixed British soldiers and Indian sepoys, under Major General Lionel Smith, sailed from Bombay on 11 January 1821.

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