MIDDLE EAST POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY, 1904-1950

The Private Letters and Diaries of Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1955) from Pembroke College, Cambridge

"...the most brilliant Englishman in the Near East."
T E Lawrence, descibing Storrs in Seven Pillars of Wisdom

"Sir Ronald Storrs belongs in the pantheon of noteworthy leaders of the British Empire .... In 1909, he became Oriental Secretary at the British agency in Cairo serving first under Sir Eldon Gorst and then under Lord Kitchener and Sir Henry McMahon. Here he was able to distinguish himself, to use his keen intellect and knowledge of colloquial Arabic to good effect as the consumate Near East hand. When war came in 1914, Storrs became involved in the negotiations with Sherif Hussein, later King Hussein. ... During World War One, Storrs served as a political officer with the Anglo-French Expeditionary Force, an assignment which took him to Baghdad. Late in 1917, he then served briefly with the secretariat of the British War Cabinet before being appointed to the newly created position of governor of Jerusalem."
Professor Donald S Birn
University of Albany, State University of New York
writing in the Introduction to this Microfilm Poject

"Storrs, who served as first British governor of Jerusalem, from 1917 to 1926, was a witty, feline character who declared himself ‘anima naturaliter Levantina’. Unusual among mandatory officials in being an intellectual show-off, he was regarded by colleagues as being too clever by three quarters, by Arabs as a poseur who pretended to know more Arabic than he did, and by Jews as an untrustworthy hypocrite. They were all right. But Storrs was a superb writer, more readable - and far more accurate as a guide through the Anglo-Arab labyrinth - than that genuine poseur, his friend T E Lawrence."
Professor Bernard Wasserstein
President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
writing in the Times Literary Supplement, 24 April 1998

The publication of the Papers of Sir Ronald Storrs on microfilm is a major event for Middle Eastern studies. An important and controversial figure in the Middle East in the first half of the Twentieth Century, Storrs was a renowned expert on Arab and Zionist affairs. So far scholars have only had access to his memoir, Orientations, published in 1937. Gracefully written, this showed his powers of observation and his sensitivity to different viewpoints. Now scholars can have access to the great storehouse of knowledge on which his memoir was based - his extensive diaries, weekly letters home and his correspondence with major figures.

These sources describe the events, and the manoeuverings behind the events, in Middle Eastern Politics and Diplomacy between 1904 and 1950. Storrs’ own observations are enriched by letters from Amir Abdullah, Allenby, Leo Amery, Gertrude Bell, Norman Bentwich, Bernard Berenson, Violet Bonham-Carter, Curzon, King Faizal, Prince Ibrahim Hilmi, Sharif Hussein, Kitchener, T E Lawrence, Rose Macauley, Milner, Nashab Pasha, Sirri Pasha, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Samuel, Ethel Smythe, Arnold Toynbee, Robert Vansittart, Chaim Waizmann and others.

The papers describe in detail the various troubled areas in which Storrs served:

EGYPT, 1904-1917. Storrs began his career in the Egyptian Civil Service, holding a variety of posts before his appointment as the Oriental secretary ("the eyes, ears, interpretation and intelligence" of the Consul) under Gorst, Kitchener and McMahon. He was present at the time that the Coptic premier was assassinated, during the ministerial crisis of 1914, and played a major role in steering Egypt away from Turkish or German alliances during World War I.

WITH LAWRENCE OF ARABIA DURING THE ARAB REVOLT, 1914-1917. Storrs was involved in the planning and diplomacy that preceded the Revolt in the Desert, shuttling back and forth between Sharif Zaid, Aziz al-Masri, Sharif Abdullah, King Faisal and King Hussein. He gathered intelligence in Hejaz, Jeddah, Cairo, Aden, Basra, Baghdad, Muscat, Oman and Kuwait and it was during this period that he became a close friend of T E Lawrence.

JERUSALEM, 1917-1926. From 1917 to 1920 Storrs served as Military Governor in Jerusalem; and from 1920 to 1927 he was Civil Governor of Jerusalem and Judea. He was present at the time of the "Balfour Declaration," during the 1921 riots, and when King Faisal was expelled from Syria. He attempted to unite Arabs and Jews and brought together The Mufti of Jerusalem and Musa Kazem Pasha al Husseini with Theodore Herzl and Chaim Weizmann. He also promulgated the work of the Pro-Jerusalem Society, bringing together hostile groups to safeguard antiquities.

CYPRUS, 1926-1932. Storrs was appointed Governor of Cyprus in 1926 and gained early popularity by engineering the cancellation of the Cypriot share of the Turkish debt. Tensions soon resurfaced, with the Enosis movement pressing for unification with Greece, and both Greeks and Turks protesting at his attempts to keep religion out of education. Anti-British sentiments were symbolised by the burning of Government House in 1931, destroying his library and art collection.

NORTHERN RHODESIA, 1933-1934. At the expiry of his normal term of Governorship in Cyprus, Storrs was appointed Governor of North Rhodesia. He organised the building of a new capital in Lusaka and toured Barotseland, Congo, South Africa and Zanzibar, before retiring due to ill health.

TOURIST, LECTURER AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTATOR, 1934-1950. After he had regained his health, Storrs pursued an active retirement - writing, lecturing and travelling the world. His diaries describe visits to Tunisia, Canada, USA, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Balkans, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Iran, Libya, Abyssinia, and Sudan. There is a fine World War II diary, and he kept in touch with Arab opinion through meetings with Ibn Saud, Aga Khan, King Faisal, Aziz al-Masri, Prince Muhammed Ali, Albert Hourani and King Abdullah.

Storrs’ letters and diaries are frank and informative, free of the certainties of retrospective analysis. They reveal his love of art and antiquities, his sympathies with Arabic views, his belief in the right of Israeli self-determination and his disenchantment with colonialism. They are an essential source for anyone studying Middle East relations, 1904-1950, and World History.