MIDDLE EAST POLITICS & DIPLOMACY, 1904-1950
The Private Letters and Diaries of Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1955) from Pembroke College, Cambridge

DETAILED LISTING

REEL 1: BOX NUMBER I/1
This box starts with two letters from Dean Storrs, 1926, fragments of letters from Lucy Storrs and letters from RS to Lucy Storrs, 1911-1916. There is a diary for part of 1902. Letters to and from his parents – particularly from Charterhouse. Letters to and from friends at Cambridge (including one from J M Keynes).
There are family trees and memoirs of various ancestors and relations, including cuttings about his father and cuttings about his uncle Henry Cust. Various other family letters and papers, including one to his mother from Cairo, dated 1916, recording the death of Kitchener.

REEL 2: BOX NUMBER II/1
This box contains papers from the Egyptian period covering 1904-1909. The bulk of the contents are letters from Storrs to his Mother. They contain information about personalities and life in the British Agency and occasional nuggets of political gossip. This box contains the press cuttings that Storrs kept about Egypt, many from the Egyptian press. This box also contains an account of the terms and conditions for entry into the Egyptian Civil Service, as follows:

CIVIL SERVICE

Egyptian and Sudanese Government

The following précis of information on the Conditions of Service and prospects of Government Civil Servants in Egypt and the Sudan has been prepared in answer to the numerous enquiries received by the Egyptian and Sudanese Authorities:

The Candidates desired are Gentlemen who have just finished their University course, and are about 23 years of age.

Candidates will be examined by a Medical Board both before selection and in the following year prior to appointment. No Candidate will be selected or appointed who is not reported by the Medical Authority to be physically fitted in all respects for work in a tropical climate. The selection will take place in the month of July. Applications should reach Egypt by April 15. The application must in all cases be made on one of the forms issued by the Egyptian and Sudanese Governments. A Candidate who is in for his Final Schools in June and July is not excluded by the requirements (p10 of authorised form of application) of the statement of his Degree. The circumstance should be explained and the name sent in provisionally, and a supplementary statement forwarded immediately after the Class List appears. No married man should apply for these appointments, and an Official who wishes to marry within the next ten years or so will probably find it difficult to fit in his duties and family life. The probationary year in England and the examination at the end of it are sufficiently described in the official document (enclosed). They are the same for the Egyptian and Sudanese Service. Every candidate who passes the examination and complies with the conditions will be offered an appointment, though it cannot be decided beforehand whether it will be in Egypt or the Sudan. A Candidate may put down his name for either or both Services, or may state his preference for one or the other. The number of posts to be allotted very year is necessarily small. All information which may be required in addition to that given below may be obtained from the Secretary to the Selection Board, Finance Ministry, Cairo; or the Secretary, University Appointments Committee, at either Oxford, Cambridge or Trinity College, Dublin.

1. Egyptian Service – setting aside the more technical Departments (Public Works, Medicine, Justice) and the Educational Department, which is on a different footing, the careers for selected Candidates will be mainly in the Departments of the Interior and of Finance.

On arriving in Egypt the approved Candidates will probably receive an appointment as Assistant Inspector. His salary will begin with at least £E240; he will likewise have travelling allowances, which are calculated on so liberal a scale as to make a substantial addition to the salary. His residence will be in Cairo, which will be his headquarters, but he will probably spend at least 20 days in each month travelling in the Provinces. Rest-houses are provided in many places, and living will be less expensive than in Cairo. A man will be able to live, quietly but in fair comfort, on his first salary with the travelling allowances.

The main duties of the Inspector are to overlook the work of the Native Officials, to examine registers, to collect information and to report to the Central Department. He will likewise have to give advice to the Native Mamura (District Governors) and to consult with the Native Mudirs, or Government of Provinces, who are always his superiors in rank. In all these matters he will be guided by instructions from his Department. In some case the Inspector is specially commissioned to enquire into a case which has been brought before t he Department by way of petition. In the Finance Department there is some executive work (Land claims, Assessments of Taxation, etc) not unlike that of the Settlement Officer in India. The rise in salary depends on the efficiency of the Official, but there is a probability that in from five to ten years’ time an Inspector will be drawing £E600 to £E700. There are certain higher posts (Police, Customs &c) with salaries of from £E800 to £E1,500, which have hitherto generally been filled by promotion.

For the first year an official is considered to be a probationer, and may be discharged if not likely to be a success. After that he can only be deprived of his appointment for ill-health, misconduct or suppression of post.

Subject to the exigencies of the Service, furlough (which may not be taken in the first year) is given for two months every year on full pay, and a third month may be allowed on half pay. Leave may be accumulated, but not more than three and a half months may be taken in any one year.

All salaries are subject to a 5% reduction for pension. To earn a pension a man must have been under 35 at date of appointment; he must have served 25 years and be 55 years of age, unless he has been retired from Service after no less than 15 years for ill-health or suppression of post. The pension is calculated on the average of last three years’ salary, at the rate of 1/60^th of such average for each year of Service, provided that no pension can exceed £E600 a year.

In case of retirement on the grounds of ill-health or suppression of post, before the completion of 15 years’ Service, there is no pension, but a lump sum down of one month’s salary for each year of Service up to ten and of three months’ salary for each year between ten and fifteen.


REEL 3: BOX NUMBER II/2
This box contains papers from the Egyptian period covering 1904-1913; consisting mainly of Storrs’ letters home. There is a letter from Theodore Roosevelt. There are various pieces about Kitchener, including press extracts.

REEL 4: BOX NUMBER II/3
This box contains papers from the Egyptian period covering the years 1914-15. It contains translations of anti-British pamphlets put about in Egypt. There are agents’ reports on the state of Egyptian public feeling and reports of a secret agents’ meeting with Sharif Hussein. There are copies of "The Mudros Gazette" and press comments. There is a confidential letter about German officers arriving at Massawa and a secret letter about unsuitability of appointing Cecil to run Egypt. Letters from Margot Asquith, Winnie de Polignac, Habib Loutfy, Leopold of Battenberg, Robert Vansittart. Numerous reports from Cesár Karam, an agent, 1914-15
Examples of the notes and reports contained include the following brief biography of the Sultan and a note of a disturbing week in Egypt.

Biographies I have already dealt with the Princes Kamal-ed-Din, Ahmad Fuad and Yusuf Kamal, and understand that you have seen my observations upon them.

The personality of the Sultan should even more than is usually necessary be considered in the light of his parentage, association and various vicissitudes of fortune; by instinct and by original training, he is in all matters of finance, government and attitude towards Egyptians and foreigners, emphatically and pre-eminently the son of his father Ismail.

His reckless generosity, his ultra Edwardian desire that things should be "done" well, his complete freedom from fanaticism and anti-Egyptian feeling, and his morbid personal sensitiveness are the survivals of many other hereditary characteristics, which the deposal of Ismail, his own subsequent exile, his return at the avowed instance of the British Government, and finally the neglect and insults he experienced at the hands of his nephew the ex-Khedive, have combined to conceal or modify if not wholly to obliterate.

Himself of great personal charm and dignity, it is essentially to personal influence and consideration that he is amenable; as much so that it is possible, given adequate care and preparation, to present almost any proposal to him in a palatable and finally acceptable form.

His educational and cultural sympathies are, as might be expected from one who had spent so much of his youth at the Court of the Third Empire, decidedly French; but this has not in any way affected his pro-English views, and now at once rewarded and consolidated by the Protectorate.

NOTE We have been through a puzzling week, and I do not particularly like the signs of the political weather. On Monday afternoon Lord Kitchener saw the Khedive, who begged him to get rid of the present Prime Minister Mohammed Pasha Said and substitute Lord Cromer’s old friend Mustapha Pasha Fehmy. Lord Kitchener promised to refer the matter to the Foreign Office, and coming back to the Agency drafted with me a letter to Mustapha Fehmy offering him in very warm terms the Presidency of the Council, which he intimated was to be accepted without other changes in the Cabinet. I had the letter sent down to Luxor by one of my confidential Agents, who brought back on Wednesday morning an answer to the effect that the Pasha's health did not permit him to accept of the offer "sans changement de Ministres et changement de système". The meaning and the extent of the first and the nature of the second change being, to say the least, doubtful Lord Kitchener instructed me to go down on Wednesday night to Luxor, and make the best terms I could with Mustapha Pasha with a view to laving the Cabinet as intact as possible and also to find out what exactly he meant by changement de système.

I telephoned to the Vice President of the Legislative Assembly, whose official dinner I should have attended that night, that I was not feeling very well, took the 8 o’clock ordinary train down to Luxor and found Mustapha Pasha no longer actually suffering, but obviously not robust. He received me very cordially and explained that by Système he had meant Système administratif, and that he considered the Moudirs were disgracefully out of hand, and that the central authority upon them had been far too much relaxed.

REEL 5: BOX NUMBER II/4
This box covers the Egyptian period from 1916-17. It contains translations of letters from the Sharif, Abdullah and Ali; Sir Mark Sykes’ copy of a note on Mesopotamian administration; Reports from Ruhi – Storrs’ secret agent to the Sharif; Secret minutes of the Cabinet Committee on Egyptian administration; A letter from Curzon; Storrs’ secret reports to the High Commissioner on the Arab Revolt; Letters from Lloyd, Birdwood and Mereweather and Violet Bonham-Carter; Reports from an agent on public feeling in Egypt; Secret reports on Storrs’ trip to the Hejaz by D G Hogarth and Storrs; Extracts from diary of meeting Hussein; Letter of congratulation to Storrs on his receiving the CMG; Letter from AJ Balfour offering Storrs a position as Secretary to a War Cabinet sub committee (on the future administration of Egypt) and a secret memorandum by Milner about Egypt.

This box also contains a large number of very interesting documents concerning the Arab Revolt. Some of the highlights are as follows. Firstly, D G Hogarth's account of Storrs' trip to the Hejaz:


CAIRO
10^th June, 1916

With Mr R Storrs, CMG, Oriental Secretary of HM Residency and Captain K Cornwallis of the Intelligence Section, Headquarters, Cairo, I left Suez IN HMS "Dufferin" on Monday the 29^th and arrived at Port Sudan on Wednesday May 31^st about midday. R Came aboard from HMS "Fox" which was in harbour. As expected, he reported that no arrangements had been made for an immediate meeting with the Sherif Abdallah and that it would be necessary to go across to Ras Makhluk (= Ras Arab) and find O, who would then ride up to Mecca and see Sherif Hussein. We left again after conferring with Captain Boyle and Colonel Wilson, and anchored inside the reefs south of Ras Arab on June the 1^st at noon.

O did not appear till 3.30, having probably (as appeared from his later proceedings) employed the time, since the ship was first sighted, in loading his dhow with a cargo of petroleum and sugar, which HMS "Fox" had not allowed him to carry down the coast a week previously, but he hoped would now be passed by us. After discussion, in which O stood out for taking his dhow to Rueis (4 miles north of Jeddah) and riding up from that point, on the plea that it was nearer to Mecca, and his camels were there, we agreed that he should do this, reach Mecca on Saturday June 3^rd with a letter from Storrs to Sherif Abdullah, arrange if possible for a meeting on the coast on Tuesday June 6^th, and himself be picked up by us off Rueis on Monday June 5^th to inform us of the arrangement if made. This programme, it may be said, he carried out promptly and exactly, riding from Rueis to Mecca during Friday night, seeing Sherif Hussein on Saturday and returning to Reuis on Sunday.

After seeing O’s dhow started on its way to Rueis on Friday morning, the "DUFFERIN" cruised northward, inspecting Umlejh, Hassani Island and Yambo, and anchored off Jeddah at 1 pm on Monday June 5^th. O came off at once from HMS "FOX" and reported on his visit to Mecca. He brought written messages from Sherifs Hussein and Abdullah, by which we learned that the latter had gone to Taif and had deputed his brother Zeid to meet us on Tuesday, the 6^th, at dawn on the beach at Samimah, about 15 miles south of Jeddah; also that the general rising was to begin on Saturday June the 10^th. From O’s attitude and report, it was clear that some difficulty would be made about anyone, besides Storrs, meeting Zeid. Danger ashore was pleaded, and we were told Zeid himself was to come down very secretly "like a robber"; but a desire not to be responsible for more Christians landing in Hejaz than could be helped, and also fear that Zeid would be confronted in council with disproportionate numbers doubtless weighed with the Sherif.

Although the substitution of Zeid for Abdullah had rendered it unlikely that large questions of International Politics would be raised, or that we should be in a position to appreciate the actual situation and future policy of the Sherif by converse with a principal actor in the drama, I thought we all ought to make every effort to be present at the interview’ accordingly it was arranged that all should go to the shore together in any case, and that should Storrs alone be asked to land, he should invite Zeid to the ship.

The "DUFFERIN" dropped down to a reef about 6 miles S of Samimah (which seems to be a name of a reef, the shore itself at that point being called Badi’a) and anchored there fore the night. At dawn on the next day, June 6^th, she weighed and approached within two miles of the shore. We were sent off in a boat at 5.30 and the "DUFFERIN", after taking soundings, came inshore about another mile.

We found a dhow at anchor off Badi’a, which had brought stores for the Sherif from Port Sudan. On her we awaited the arrival of Zeid, sending O ashore to direct Zeid to the place and to erect a rough shelter with the dhow’s poles and sail.

After an hour, ten camel-riders were seen approaching from E N E. They halted about a mile from the beach and sent on one of their number to the shelter, the rest following presently. The camels were couched and two men took places in the shelter. O came off through the shallows to say that Storrs was desired to land first alone, but that Cornwallis and myself should be sent for presently. The ship’s boat was unable to approach the beach nearer than about 40 yards and the rest of the shallows had to be crossed in a native canoe and on Arab shoulders. We sent refreshments ashore. It was particularly asked that none of our own boat’s crew should land or help anyone to land.

After half an hour Storrs and the two Chief Arabs, who were Sherif Zeid and Shakir, Emir of the Ateibah, came down to the beach and were brought off to the boat, with O and R. Storrs had persuaded them to visit the ship. Zeid agreeing with little demur, but remarking that Abdullah, in his place, might have declined. On the way out Storrs stated summarily what had passed and we agreed to go over all the ground again on the ship. This was reached about 9.15 and the visitors stayed till about 12.30, being given a meal on-board, before and after which we had discussions with them. The second of these was shared by Captain Boyle of HMS "FOX", which had meanwhile come from Jeddah.

The discussions were concerned mainly with points enumerated in the two letters appended, and the information given by Zeid and Shakir did not go much beyond what is to be learned from these letters.

It was evident that Zeid had been primed to say certain things and no more; and his companion was reticent. When we tried to elicit policy or plans, Zeid became vague, evidently as much from ignorance as from nervousness. The points, on which ground outside the letters was traversed were summarily these:

(1) Zeid, speaking evidently to order, complained of the hesitancy shown by HM Government in meeting his father’s requests. It was pointed out to him that not only had these requests often been made at very short notice indeed, but during the present war, some of them could not be granted anyhow; also that a distant Government which knew nothing of the Sherif personally could not but require some overt action as a guarantee of good faith before supplying money ad arms ad libitum.

(2) Zeid was asked about the Haj, it being pointed out that the maintenance of the blockade and the encouragement of the Haj by sea were not compatible. He replied that the blockade would so soon become unnecessary, that he hoped the Indian Government would put no difficulties in the way of pilgrims.

(3) Zeid admitted his father’s lack of guns or trained gunners; therefore he pressed the Sherif’s request for these. He was reminded by us that this was one more new and serious request brought forward at a moment’s notice, and that, even if it could be complied with at all, nothing could be delivered, as he seemed to assume, by 10^th June. The Navy’s difficulty in sparing machine guns from the patrol ships and their lack of field mountings were emphasised.

(4) Zeid was asked about possible co-operation of our ships in operations at Jeddah on June 10^th or subsequently. At first he disclaimed any desire for such help, but later amended his reply to a request that it might be given if asked for in writing by the responsible Commander of the attacking Arabs. He asked Captain Boyle, however, not to proceed to the inner anchorage till requested, for fear of exciting Turkish suspicions.

(5) Zeid asked if we would take action in Syria to lighten pressure on the Arabs, when they had revolted. He and his companion stated that Feisal had reported 80,000 Turkish soldiers in Syria and that a great effort would be made to crush the revolt by bringing up those troops. We replied that if Turkish troops were withdrawn from the Sinai front, we should press forward, but that distinct operations elsewhere in Syria could only be undertaken on a decision of the Council of the Allies and he was reminded of our heavy obligations on other fronts. He seemed to accept this reply, but pleaded that his father was committed in any case and that he looked to us for help.

(6) Zeid asked about Verdun, but showed little interest in, or knowledge of, any other phase of the war.

(7) Asked about SW Arabia, Zeid could say nothing about the Idrissi beyond that the Sherif was satisfied with him though Idrissi had not yet replied to his letter. The Turks in Ebha were, he asserted, not above 1500 strong, and without food or ammunition. Hassan Ibn Ali, Chief of the Beni Mugheid, hitherto the Turk’s sheet-anchor in Asir, had been squared by the Sherif. The Imam Yahya he dismissed as inactive.

(8) Asked about Central Arabia, Zeid said at first that Ibn Saud was friendly. On being pressed he amended this epithet to "neutral". He would not take any part in the revolt. Ibn Rashid, he said, was powerless.

Asked about North Africa, Zeid was vague and apparently ignorant, confounding Nuri-es-Shaalan with the Shammar in his reply. All the tribes "of the Jibal" he said, would rise against the Turks as soon as Hejaz revolted.

(10) In the Hejaz revolt the Ateibah (both Roqa and Berqa sections) all the Harb, the Juheinah and minor tribes would join. There were 1,000 Turkish soldiers in Mecca and with these Sherif Hussein would deal. Abdullah and Zeid himself would take Taif, where were 1,200 Turkish troops, with the Vali, Chalib Pasha (a weak and inert man) and the mass of the Ottoman officials. Abdul Mohain Ibn Mansur El-Adm, Emir of the Harb at Jeddah would see to the operations against this town and its garrison of 800 Turks. The plan there was to seize the outside water supply, the condensing plant being out of order. Both Zeid and his companion professed absolute confidence in the result at all these places and seemed anxious only about Medina, where Sherifs Ali and Feisal were to have begun the rising on June 5^th. The general procedure would be to summon Turkish garrisons and officials to surrender at discretion; if they consented, to disarm and intern them or send them away to the north; if they refused to kill them. All communications, road, telegraphs, etc in Hejaz were already in Arab hands.

The murder of six Germans by the Zubeid Harb near Qadhimah was confirmed; but all knowledge of the northern party of Germans reported to us at Umlajh, was disowned

Note. On June 7^th we got news from Yambo that the latter party consisted of 8 Germans, namely four men, a small boy and three women with one Turkish officer. They were lodged in the quarantine at Yambo waiting for a dhow to take them to Jeddah. They were said to have come from the Railway at El Ala, via Wejh, on Billi camels and to have gone on from Umliejh on Juheinah camels.)

O added that the murdered Germans, who had come from Java, had in vain declared themselves Moslems, the Arabs replying that they were out to kill "White Muslamin". Some blood-stained pages of GW Bury’s "Land of Uz" and a letter in Turkish, taken off their bodies, were handed over to us by O with promise of more papers, for which we pledged ourselves to pay £5.

(12) A request was made for cartridges for 1,200 rifles of a special Turkish pattern. Cornwallis took a sample and undertook to try to procure the amount desired in Cairo.


(13) Asked about the £2,000 Sakf surplus, Zeid declined to have anything to do with a payment made through any agent of the Ex-Sherif Ali, whom he described as a dangerous man. We, therefore, did not hand over the papers concerning this matter which we had brought with us.

It should be noted that no question about either the Caliphate or boundaries in Syria was raised.

Before their departure, Zeid and Shakir were photographed on board. Into the launch, which took them ashore, were put the £10,000 in two cases, the propagandist literature brought with us and some provisions and water for Zeid’s use on his road home. The party rested about two hours in the shelter ashore, and were seen riding inland again about 5pm.

Zeid struck me as amiable but weak, and unlikely to play any but a subordinate part in future. He is about twenty years of age, of middle height and slight frame, and rather feminine in appearance, in spite of incipient dark chin – beard and moustache. He has large and fine, but dull eyes; an oval face; a round characterless chin, and sallow rather unhealthy complexion. He is not a man of action, but a Harem Arab. He knows some Turkish.

His companion, Shakir, who is heavily pock-marked and wears his hair Bedawi-wise in long black tails, is older (about 30) and taller and has a scraggy chin-beard. His eyes are less innocent than Zeid’s and his speech was less frank.

The general impression which I for my part derived from the interview was this: That the Revolt was genuine and inevitable but about to be undertaken upon inadequate preparation, in ignorance of modern warfare, and with little idea of the obligations which its success would impose on the Sherifial family. In both the organisation of the tribal forces and the provision of armament far too much has been left to the last moment and to luck. If the Arabs succeed, it will be by their overwhelming numbers and by the isolation of the Turkish garrisons; but it is hard to see how any sort of order can quickly come out of the chaos which will ensue on their success.

If the Revolt succeeds, relations between our ships and the shore will at once become more frequent and more important. Difficult questions will arise about the local relaxation or abolition of the Blockade, and still more difficult questions of policy in regard to the new Arab régime will have to be dealt with on the spot. We may even be asked to lend a hand in many ways. I submit that, in view of these possibilities, the Political Service on our patrol ships urgently needs improvement both in quality and quantity, and that it ought to be kept better informed by Cairo than it has been hitherto.
DG HOGARTH

REEL 5, BOX NUMBER II/4 (continued)
There follows an account by Storrs of the position in Jeddah following the Revolt: The Residency, Cairo,
30^th June 1916
Note on the present position at Jeddah Now that the Hejaz revolt is an accomplished fact, the situation at Jeddah, whether the revolt fails or succeeds, can no longer remain what it was either before or during the war. Turkish organisation though inefficient, was better than no organisation at all, and it will be some little time before any purely Arab product can take its place. Apart from the preservation of internal order, (municipality police etc); the exterior and international necessities of the city, such as Port & Quarantine Authorities, render some form of external supervision imperative. For the moment there must be an Englishman in charge, assisted to a certain extent by responsible experts. The appointment of a titular governor might end by arousing Arab and possibly Allied suspicions, while that of consul could hardly fail to bring about the arrival of Allied and even neutral colleagues. It should not be difficult to find a solution by some title as Port Authority or Disembarkation Officer, but whatever the style and functions f this official may be, his appointment, in view of the Jamil incident and the general feeling of the town, will have to be made without delay. Once appointed, though with a title never so non-political and unpretentious, he will at once be recognised as the administrative authority of Jeddah, and it is for this capacity during the pilgrimage. That universal disseminating news agency could not fail to distribute into every corner of the Islamic world, the picture of Great Britain with one hand already laid on the Hejaz. This difficulty might be met by the officer being provided with a trustworthy and fairly high Moslem Egyptian official who would collaborate with him as long as he remained, and take his place just before the pilgrimage began, remaining as chief executive authority before the world until the last pilgrim had left for home. This official would during that time be steadied by constant intercourse with the various commanding officers of the Red Sea Patrol, and if a satisfactory choice were made, would, his interests and ambitions lying in the hands of the Residency, probably render very valuable services. He should therefore be chosen from the upper strata of the Administration, for the greater his tact, ability, and administrative experience, the less will be the friction with British and foreign pilgrims, town authorities etc, and the more favourable the impression created.

It is desirable, but by no means absolutely necessary, that Moslem port and quarantine experts should from the beginning be attached to the British Officer in charge and subsequently left under his Egyptian colleague. If no suitable Moslems can be found, the place might well be taken by a better class Copt or Syrian Christian, these posts, like that of Director of Egyptian Telegraph Company, implying no political or administrative significance.
RS "

A further report on the Arab Revolt in the Hejaz details the attack on Jeddah:

" ARAB REVOLT IN HEJAZ

In July, 1915, a letter was received by Mr Storrs from the Emir of Mecca, Sherif Hussein Ibn Ali, soliciting the support of His Majesty’s Government for the cause of Arab independence and proposing certain boundaries for the independent Arab area. Roughly these coincided with the range of the Arab vernacular in south-west Asia, the northern limit being about N Lat 37º. Aden was excepted. A guarded reply was returned by the High Commission, and during the rest of the year letters passed at rather long intervals, owing to the difficulty and danger of the ways of the ways of communication. The upshot of these letters was that His Majesty’s Government expressed itself willing to promote independence in the Arab-speaking area, but reserved the question of precise boundaries, refusing in particular to commit itself about any part of Western Syria or Lower Mesopotamia, or about the forms of Arab Government which should be established in various parts of the independent area. In regard to an Arab Caliphate, it merely expressed its willingness to recognise one if and when satisfactorily established by the common consent of the Arabs themselves.

After a letter written by the Emir on January 1, 1916, these matters were practically dropped out of the correspondence, and subsequent communications were confined to the Emir’s immediate project of raising a revolt in his own province of Hejaz, obtaining, if possible, support from Seyyid Idrissi in Asir, and the Imam Yahya in Yemen, and from Bedouin tribes of the North. After a vague plan of operation in Syria also had been discountenanced by his Majesty’s Government, revolt in south-west Arabia remained alone in question by the beginning of May. His Majesty’s Government recognising that this project had a good chance of success and would seriously embarrass the Turks, gave some preliminary assistance to the Emir, and, when the latter declared his plans almost mature, sent down, at the request of his son, Abdullah, Mr Storrs with Lieut-Commander D G Hogarth and Captain K Cornwallis to meet a member of the Sherifial family on the Hejaz coast and concert final arrangements. The meeting took place, with the Emir’s fourth son, Zeid, and a trusted relative on June 6.

Owing to the steady arrival of Turkish detachments at Medina, ostensibly for Yemen, the Emir’s sons, Ali and Feisal, anticipated the concerted date, and raised the standard of revolt at Medina on June 5. While Feisal took command against the city, Ali proceeded down the Hejaz Railway. By June 17, news was received that 160 kilometres of the latter had been torn up, and it is proposed to continue the destruction at least as far north as Medain Salih. No explicit news had come to hand about Medina itself by June 18, except that the forts are holding out. There is some reason to think that Feisal has occupied the town.

On June 9 a force of about 4,000 Arabs, under the control of the local Emir of the Harb, attacked Jeddah, which was held by a battalion of Turkish infantry, with machine and field guns; to which were added a considerable force of gendarmerie, etc. The greater part of this force entrenched itself near its barracks outside the town on the north, and, at the express request of the Arabs, some of His Majesty’s patrol ships shelled it there, and later, sent sea-plans to bomb it. The Arabs, who were without artillery, made unsuccessful attacks upon it for a week, but at sunset on Friday, June 16, the town surrendered, probably more through lack of water and ammunition, than Arab attack. The number of prisoners amounts to forty-five officers, 1,400 ranks and file, and sixteen guns.

In the meantime, news had been received that the city of Mecca had fallen into the hands of the Emir itself on June 13, with the exception of the Nekato fort, north of the town, and one small hill-fort held by the garrison of 1,000 men. The Ottoman deputy-Vail and his staff were captured.

The town of Taif, where the Vali and Government Headquarters were, and a garrison of 1,200 Turks, followed suit on June 14, but its forts were still holding out on June 18. The principal blockhouses on the Jeddah-Mecca road, at Raghamah near Jeddah and Bahara, about seventeen miles inland, surrendered with guns and munitions, about the same time. South Hejaz, therefore, may be said now to be freed from the Turks, and the greater part of North Hejaz is also in Arab hands.

In view of these facts our strict naval patrol of the Hejaz coast has been relaxed at some northern ports, and supplies are now allowed to pass in freely to the Arabs, there being no longer any risk of their finding their way to the Turks. Now that Jeddah has fallen, it is hoped that this port may also be re-opened both to supplies and to Pilgrims in time for the approaching Haj season.

Aden reports that Seyyid Idrissi is about to move upon the Turkish forces in Asir. But it is not expected that the Imam will move yet in Yemen. The serious economic crisis prevailing in the latter country, however, and the inability of the Turks to continue to pay his subsidy, may soon force him to action. ... "

REEL 6: BOX NUMBER II/5
This box contains all that has survived of the diary that Storrs kept while in Egypt. It covers a few days in October 1916 and quite a large part of the period from April-December 1917.

The 1916 period covers his visit to the Hejaz – including notes of conversations with Sherif Hussein, Lawrence and others.

The 1917 part starts with two books covering Storrs’ journey to Baghdad. It is very detailed and illustrated with photographs taken at the time. These and the rest of the diary which contains more about the Gulf and ending with his entry into Jerusalem show what a loss the rest of his diary must have been.

BOX NUMBER III/1

This box contains papers from the Jerusalem period covering 1918 and 1919.

The 1918 folder contains some letters from Storrs to his family giving sidelights on affairs. There are also minutes of Conference of Military Governors. There are, as in all the Jerusalem papers, documents dealing with church affairs and petitions. Similarly there are letters from friends in Egypt which contain some comments on public affairs.

The 1919 folder contains a secret draft report on disturbances and there is also a justification of his policy. There is also a letter from Gertrude Bell.

The box includes a statement concerning the Balfour Declaration:

" TO THE HEADS OF ALL COMMUNITIES

1. The Supreme Council has decided that there shall be a mandate for Palestine and that the Balfour Declaration regarding a Jewish National Home in Palestine shall be included in the Turkish Peace Treaty.

2. The Mandate will probably be given to Great Britain. This means that the country will be governed by a British Government for the good of all inhabitants of the country.

3. I will now read you the Balfour declaration:

TEXT OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION of November 2^nd, 1917

"His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish Communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other Country."

The inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the Peace Treaty means therefore that:

(a) there will be no interference with Religious customs or Holy Places or any curtailment whatever of religious liberty, subject to the maintenance of public order and security.

(b) Immigrants will be allowed to enter the country only as they are required for the development of the country, and this immigration will be controlled by the British Government of the country.

(c) Present land owners will not be evicted or spoliated and profitable concessions will not be granted to individuals or groups of individuals to the detriment of others.

(d) The British Government will govern, and in no sense will a minority be allowed to control a majority of the population when the time arrives for any form of Representative Government.

4. Under these conditions there are great hopes for the constantly increasing prosperity of all the inhabitants of this country.

5. The decision has at last been given and henceforward there must be an end to political strife and unrest. "


The following excerpt details preparations for the Nebi Musa festival of 1919:


SECRET

Shortly before the Nebi Musa festival of 1919 rumours of impending trouble began to circulate. The situation was affected by the coincidence of the Latin and Orthodox Easter Days and feeling ran high between all rival parties. Such was the activity of some of the Young Mens’ Secret Associations that I found it necessary, after consultation with Major Camp of the Intelligence, to intern Abdul Kader al Alami, Chief Warder of the Jerusalem Prison, and a most capable official, as a preventive and warning measure. Arrangements were made, under my direction by my AAG, Colonel Waters-Taylor, in conjunction with the Military, that a Band and escort of Indian troops were to accompany the procession up to the place of assembly. Shortly before the event I was sent for by General Money, then Chief Administrator, who showed me a letter from Mr Aaronson in which massacres were foretold, and asked my opinion of the situation. I replied that I was unable to guarantee anything and stated the precautions I had taken, which the Chief Administrator was good enough to approve. The festival passed off without incident.


REEL 7: BOX NUMBER III/2
This box contains two folders of papers from the Jerusalem period covering the years 1920 and 1921.

The 1920 folder has various official reports: there are bi-monthly reports from Jerusalem District and extracts from the local press. There is an apologia after riots. Of particular interest are reports from Haifa on the arrival of King Faisal after his expulsion from Damascus. There is also a letter written to Storrs by Sir Herbert Samuel after his appointment as High Commissioner but before his arrival. There are also letters from Allenby, C R Ashbee, N Sokolow, Cecil Dormer and others.

The folder for 1921 contains an account of Storrs’ reception by the Pope and their discussion of Zionism and the Vatican’s attitude to it. There is the now customary justification after riots, letters from Allenby, George Lloyd, the Archbishop of Canterbury and press reports.

REEL 8: BOX NUMBER III/3

This box contains papers from the Jerusalem period covering the year 1922.

Official documents include secret police resumés of events, secret minutes of meetings of Governors, fortnightly reports from Jerusalem district and police orders for possible riots.

The folder is mainly filled with social letters. Writers include C R Ashbee, Gertrude Bell, Mary Berenson, Bernard Berenson, Lord Allenby, Lord Milner, Shane Leslie about Mark Sykes, Weizmann and Sirri Pasha.

There is an account of Lord Northcliffe’s visit to Jerusalem. There are also some copies of official letters written by Storrs.

Storrs had a close friendship with Gertrude Bell, having walked with her in the desert and exchanged views on the local people and architecture. They exchanged many chatty letters:


The Governorate,
Jerusalem
18^th October 1922

My dear Gertrude

I take advantage of the journey of Colonel M (against whom I gather you have certain hitherto unrectified predispositions) to thank you for your letter of 13^th, and to congratulate you upon the successful conclusion of the Treaty, in the framing of which I have no doubt you had a considerable hand.

Here we are in the midst of census trouble. Some think it is being taken in order to increase taxation, others that the aim is military service. The agitators are informing their sectories that Jewish Statistics will be enhanced to the disadvantage of the Arabs. All are aware that the census is the basis of the electoral register, and that the register preludes the elections, acceptance of which mean (in their eyes) recognition of the Constitution, and with it, of the Balfour Declaration. In consequence the closest supervision and the strictest measures are necessary.
I am sending the same bearer a message of congratulation to His Majesty and to the Naqib, and will write to you a proper letter in the near future.

Please remember me to Sir Percy and to any other individual who may conceivably remember.

Yours always

RS

REEL 9: BOX NUMBER III/4
This box contains folders for 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926 and another of undated papers from the Jerusalem period. The 1923 folder has a quite remarkable letter from Henry Ford, offering to but the Tutankhamon treasures, a letter from George Lloyd and press extracts. The 1925 folder has a letter from Amir Abdullah, and others from T Z Cox, George Lloyd, Gilbert Murray, Stephen Gaselee, and Blanche Lloyd. The 1926 folder has confidential letters about the Latin Patriarch and one from Herbert Samuel. The undated folder has articles on administration, an account of an interview given by ibn Saud to Mt Crane and some writings on Zionism. There is also much on a 3 week trip to America by Storrs.

REEL 10: BOX NUMBER III/5
Press Cuttings about Jerusalem Period. Covers a range of papers including The Daily News and Leader, The Sphinx, Bourse Egyptienne, The Palestine Weekly, Jerusalem News, The Jewish World, The Near east, The Tablet and African World.

REEL 11: BOX NUMBER IV/1
This box contains papers from the Cyprus period arranged chronologically. The folder for 1927 includes letters from J L Garvin, A T Wilson, Joseph Duveen, Blanche Lloyd, D G Hogarth, Stephen Gaselee, Roger Fry and correspondence about a Library for Cyprus. There is also some Egypt and Palestine gossip. The folder for 1928 includes a letter from Allenby and the draft of a confidential dispatch. The folder for 1929 has drafts of official correspondence, some extracts from the local press, a letter from Lady Lloyd about Egypt and one from Herbert Samuel. The folder for 1930 has letters from Vansittart, Geoffrey Dawson and Lord Lloyd. The folder for 1931 also has confidential drafts, and interesting letters from the King’s Private Secretary, Harvey S Mudd, Ethel Snowden, and Mary Berenson.

REEL 12: BOX NUMBER IV/2
This box contains miscellaneous papers from the Cyprus period.

There are two folders marked "32", including letters from the Colonial Secretary, Arnold Toynbee, R Darnley, A Parkinson, His Beatitude the Archbishop of Cyprus and from the Bishop of Paphos. There are two letters from T E Lawrence and one from King Faisal to Lawrence in Arabic. There is also a letter from W H McLean MP, asking Storrs’ backing for a knighthood. There is a letter to the British Embassy in Ankara about an intercepted letter from the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Archbishop of Cyprus. There is also a police report on the Cypriot Communist party.

The second folder has a chatty letter from the King’s Private Secretary and private letters to and from the Colonial Office and the British Embassy in Ankara. Correspondence about rebuilding Government House. There are also drafts of official dispatches to the Secretary of State.

REEL 13: BOX NUMBER IV/3
This box contains letters and telegrams of sympathy on the burning of Government House and the loss of Storrs’ possessions. Some contain comment upon the event while others from friends talk about mutual acquaintances and give general gossip. There are letters from: Archibald Sinclair, Sacheverell Sitwell, Herbert Samuel, Ethel Smyth, Allenby, Leo Amery, Geoffrey Dawson, Editor of the Times, John Buchan, Birdwood, the Ambassador in Ankara (with comments), Vansittart, the Archbishop of Cyprus, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cresswell, Neville Henderson, Chatfield, Hore-Belisha, Eddie Marsh and Emil Ludwig.

There is also a folder of private letters sent by Storrs in reply to letters of sympathy and a private letter to the King’s Private Secretary the Colonial Secretary given him his version of events.

There is also the following account of the burning of Government House by Reuters:


HOW SIR RONALD STORRS ESCAPED MOB WITH BURNING TORCHES. VALUABLE ART TREASURES DESTROYED

NICOSIA, OCT 23

How the Governor of Cyprus, Sir Ronald Storrs and his staff escaped from Government House, which was set afire by a mob who threw burning brands through the windows, was described today by a high official in the immediate entourage of the Governor in an interview with Reuters correspondent.

At about 7.30 on Wednesday night information was received at Government House that a mob estimated at about 5,000 composed of students and the riff raff of the capital, was coming up from Nicosia. On the way they raided a timber store where they collected sticks and staves. They also tore up the wooden stakes protecting the young trees by the roadside. Police, both mounted and foot, were posted at the two entrances to the building. As soon as the crowd reached the gates, they stoned the police and forced their way through the grounds to Government House, where they assembled outside the front entrance.

A series of anti-British speeches were then made by the three leaders who were members of the Legislative Council, and by a number of others. The crowd now began to get out of hand and started throwing stones smashing the windows. Their leaders tried to calm them but seeing they were out of hand slunk away. The mob then discovered the cars which had brought up the police, overturned them and burned them. The cars included those of His Excellency, the Colonial Secretary and the Chief Commandant of Police. Seizing burning brands, the rioters threw them into the house and set light to the curtains so that Government House was soon on fire in five or six places.

At this juncture the Commissioner attempted to read the Riot Act and the police fired a volley wounding several persons, one fatally upon which the crowd dispersed. The wooden house was by now a mass of flames and it was with difficulty that the Governor and his staff escaped. The Governor’s valuable collection of Greek sculpture and Byzantine antiquities and his library were in twenty minutes reduced to ashes, nothing being saved.

Sir Ronald Storrs has taken up his residence in the house of the Colonial Secretary. Troops were summoned as soon as possible but it took the garrison quartered in the western end of the island some hours to arrive. The Commissioner’s house at Limassol was also burnt out last night but with the arrival of the military and naval reinforcements the situation is now in hand. General indignation is felt at this wanton act of destruction and innumerable messages of sympathy have reached the Governor from all classes and creeds in the island, with the exception of course of the anti-British extremists responsible for the outrage.

REEL 14: BOX NUMBER IV/4
This box contains papers from Storrs’ period as Governor of Cyprus. Firstly there is a file marked "Archbishop of Canterbury". This contains private letters from Storrs to the Archbishop telling him of his difficulties with the Orthodox Church and describing the various prelates. The Archbishop’s replies are included. Secondly there are two files on suggested constitutions with official proposals and minutes. Thirdly there are two envelopes containing official Cyprus material. This includes proclamations, speeches, Cyprus Gazette etc.

BOX NUMBER IV/5
Cyprus Press Cuttings.

REEL 15: BOX NUMBER V/1
This box contains a diary from 3 Feb 1833 to 6 March 1934 written by Storrs when Governor of Northern Rhodesia in the form of letters to his wife. This diary is quite frank and outspoken. It contains portraits of Government officials and settlers, and accounts of council meetings. Other subjects dealt with include tours, indabas, relations with Southern Rhodesia, and descriptions of local rules. He speaks of his dislike of the Secretary of State and of the Colonial Office. He gives an account of his duties, including the commuting of a death sentence. There is a considerable amount of detail about the colony finances and the proposal to build a new capital at Lusaka. He describes a tour in Barotseland and a visit to Salisbury. There is also an account of a tour of the Copper Belt and a visit to the Belgian Congo. There is a copy of a speech. He describes a witch-divining ceremony. Important people described include the King of Barotseland, Lord Malvern and Hofmeyer whom he met on a visit to Johannesburg, where he also discussed labour relations with South Africa. Finally there is an account of journey home via Zanzibar.

The box also includes newspaper cuttings from the Bulawayo Chronicle, Livingstone Mail and other papers dealing with this period.

The following brief extract from his diary concerns his first official meetings:

3^rd February, 1933

The plane seemed a long while rising from the ground. When it had gone the circle and come towards us again, I watched it out of sight and then walked straight to the little Airways office and wrote your message, thinking it might be an encouragement. We drove back to the train and had to wait some time before starting. I read all the six new copies of the Times before, at about 3, we reached Lusaka.

Here I received the stock-breeders and confronted them with Heslop, the butcher of Broken Hill (title for a book). Results entirely satisfactory, they guaranteeing to supply and he to take all future beef from within the Territory. Then the Creamery people with whom I discussed the Egg Circle, the Town Management Board, whom I had to feed chiefly on hope and; lastly, the Sporting Committee. We drove to the Aerodrome site. Very fine, but inclined to be muddy, which would not suit the big planes; and lastly, visited the Belt Hostel where the children of the district of both sexes are excellently lodged and looked after by a headmaster and matron respectively. The only difference between the dormitories of the boys and girls is that the girls have glazed windows and the boys nothing but the wire with wooden sliding shutters when the rain drives in. I must confess to being impressed and encouraged by Lusaka, and feel that it will probably be my honour to get the whole thing under way, and that of my successor to open it in state and get the full benefit of it: like the harbour at Famagusta. How wonderful to be appointed some day to a Colony of Dominion where there were legacies to inherit instead of codicils to bequeath.

BOX NUMBER V/2
This box contains the most important papers that Storrs kept about his period as Governor of Northern Rhodesia. Firstly there is a file marked "HE’s correspondence with the Department of the Secretary of State" including Lord Plymouth, WC Bottomley and SH Wilson. Some of the original letters from Downing Street are also included. Subjects dealt with include appointment of officials, general accounts of affairs in the Colony, the move of the capital to Lusaka. There is also a secret letter giving Governmental policy over Honours. Secondly there is a file marked "HE’s correspondence with the S of S". These include original replies from Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister. They deal with the general state of the colony and relations with the BSA. Thirdly, a file with some draft letters. Fourthly there is a file marked "Minutes to HCS: Letters from HCS". These are copies of official minutes written by the Government on office files and cover all aspects of policy and administration. Included are some very frank letters from the Chief Secretary to the Governor while the latter was on tour.

REEL 16: BOX NUMBER V/3
This box contains an envelope with the official warrant appointing Storrs Governor of Northern Rhodesia and letters of congratulation upon his appointment. These include letters from Arnold Toynbee, Donald Lennox-Boyd, Baden Powell, Maud Brownlow, Compton MacKenzie, Herbert Samuel, Leo Amery and Lord Reading.
Secondly there is a file marked "Court Circular" which shows his movements as Governor. Thirdly there is an envelope of official programmes of Governor’s visits of inspection. Fourthly there is an envelope marked "Speeches". Some of these are on public occasions and there are printed copies of speeches to the Legislative Council. Fifthly there is a file marked "Development of Trade within Northern Rhodesia" presumably removed from Government archives, as it contains original letters. Storrs made a speech saying that he proposed to patronize local products and various firms wrote in offering samples of beer, tea, coffee etc. Finally there is a file marked 'Mosquito' 1932-3. Storrs was swindled by a French female inventor who had invented what appears to be a Heath Robinson mosquito trap. Storrs sued her to get his money back but she conveniently went bankrupt so he regained nothing.

REEL 17: BOX NUMBER VI/1
This box contains Storrs’ diary after leaving Northern Rhodesia. He visited Tunisia, where he was received by the Bey and by Resident General Peyrouton. He continued home through Tripoli, Malta, Sicily and Naples. It also contains the diary of a Canadian tour on which met MacKenzie King. He was seen off by Lawrence (then T E Shaw) and noted:
"I found him healthier in appearance than ever before, in brown overalls and blue jersey. He came aboard and talked awhile of his retirement next March into a small cottage on a maximum of £100 p.a. He would provide bread, honey and cheese for visitors, but could not put them up, other than in a sleeping bag … on the floor. … A permanent friend I shall always rejoice to see, with generosities of feeling for persons as well as for books. And for whose little mannerisms must one not make allowances?"

BOX NUMBER VI/2
This contains Storrs’ diary for the period from 3 September 1934 to 22 December 1938. People mentioned include: Queen Marie of Rumania, King George of Greece, Leo Amery, George Lloyd, Howard Carter, Duff Cooper, Randolph Churchill, Mrs Simpson, Beecham, Brendan Bracken, H G Wells, Jack Squire, Nancy Mitford, John Christie, Hilaire Belloc, Jacob Epstein, Evelyn Waugh, Eden, Guedella, Admiral Chatfield, Ramsay MacDonald, Hore-Belisha, Osbert Sitwell, Maurice Baring, Saudi Crown Prince, Julian Huxley, Maurois, Nelson Rockefeller, and Margot Asquith.

It includes records of his visit to Italy - including a chance meeting with Ezra Pound, and to Germany in 1935, where he is concerned by the plight of the Jews. There is an account of a further European trip in February 1938, including a sojourn in Vienna. There is also an account of his trip to the Balkans, October 1938, and to Bulgaria, Rumania and Germany.

On other trips abroad he visited many European countries and the Middle East. He visited King Abdullah, Prince Muhammad Ali, Rassell Pasha, Nokr shi Pasha, Aziz el-Masri, Aga Khan.

He visited the Balkans and Poland and was received by Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, King Boris and King Carol. He did a report on his interview with King Boris for the British Ambassador and this is included.

During this period he met with Beaverbrook, Chester Beatty, Baruch, King Faruk, Michael Arlen, Somerset Maugham, Max Beerbohm, Kenneth Clark, Liddell Hart, Duchess of York, Andre Simon, TS Eliot, Crown Prince of Sweden, HV Morton, Bevan, Mosely, Axel Munth, Winston Churchill, Harry Luke, Raymond Mortimer, Violet Bonham-Carter, Rex Whistler, Ted Heath, Oliver Lyttleton, Hector Bolitho, and George Antonius.

He was also adopted as Conservative candidate for the London County Council and was elected on 4 March 1937. At home there are also notes concerning the writing of Orientations and of his lectures on Lawrence. In these he mentions Lawrence's foreboding about future Anglo-Arab relations.

REEL 18: BOX NUMBER V1/3
This box contains Storrs' Diary for 1939 and 1940 –apart from April 1939 which is missing. It starts off with his going on a lecture tour to America. On the ship he meets Jan Masaryk, Arthur Rubinstein and Douglas Fairbanks jnr. He visits many major cities and notes American views on Britain in the pre-war period. He reports much pro-German sentiment in Chicago and records the views of Jewish communities in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. He sees the Widener and Fogg art collections.

After his return he has accounts of meeting Hore-Belisha, Ethel Smyth, Rab Butler, Hugh Walpole, Kenneth Clark, Denis Wheatley, Margot Asquith, Ambassador Kennedy and Maurice Baring. He was in touch with the Arab Ambassadors and frequently comments on Palestine and the approaching war.

There is a very detailed account of the early days of the war which will be of interest to social historians. There are also accounts of his attempts to get employment. During this time he met Churchill, Leopold Amery, Haile Selassie, Wavell, Samuel, Harold Acton, Harold Nicolson, Beaverbrook, Cardinal Winsely, George Lloyd, Duff Cooper, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Somerset Maugham, Mountbatten. He also got occasional was gossip from MPs.

The following extract from his diary shows the level of detail that it contains and Storrs' wish to recordthe views of ordinary persons confronted with the war.


I.IX.39 It was strange to wake about 6.30 in my study; to look round for one second with lingering pleasure and then to lose it all by realising why I was there. At 7.0 Bone’s men for the removal of carpets, and I arose shaved and dressed for the last time in my own stripped room, and spent the rest of the morning over the miserable details and despoilment. The Times anodyne compared with the late night radio, and it is true that the same news is easier to bear printed than spoken. Still, it was bad enough. At 10.30, L. having gone to Halstead about supplies, came finality, beginning with the ominous phrase "grave developments". Those were that H. had broadcasted at 5.30 am announcing that he was replying to Polish forces by force; that Forster had proclaimed the union of Danzig with the Reich and (from Warsaw) that the G’s had bombed several cities and were invading Poland in several places. The news was confirmed and amplified at 11.30. I wrote up and tidied my room in the intervals of general dismantling and at 12.30, as we were about to snatch our luncheon in order to be free to receive our guests, a life size ordinary red omnibus drew up containing not the 25 infants with four guardians we had been told to expect, but 20 infants and 7 guardians – very much more difficult to place. The nurse in charge, Cunningham, is a Canadian from Toronto, and there are four German-Jewish refugees from Vienna, Cologne, Berlin and I forget where, with one or two others I failed to place. The children debouching from the omnibus rushed howling and screaming all over the place, pursuing Comet until he turned and bit one slightly, filling me with dread of a possible Eltham. This incident revealed the presence of Ly and AM who had driven over from Cambridge to announce that they proposed to get married almost immediately. The noise of the children was terrible. I asked the bus conductor whether he could drive me back, and he was glad enough to do so, but I could honestly summon up no particular reason for going save to be at the centre of things, and to try by a few words with MacDonald to ensue that my qualifications might be at least considered. So after hurried preparation and with a longing, lingering look at all I have striven for so long, come to love so much and must now surrender, I mounted at 2.15 (having been duly photographed between driver and conductor on the back step) and plunged up the little drive into – God knows what.

I soon went upstairs and got a view of the surrounding country and houses I had never had before. Amusing to find how often we crashed violently and seeming perilously into the great oak branches across the road. Progress slow and it was 4.15 before we reached Bishops Stortford. The roads still absolutely normal without one military vehicle or even uniform, and no air activities visible to the naked eye. Shortly after Stortford, despairing of reaching London at any reasonable hour, I beckoned to a following car, transferred and was lifted by the uxoriously returning driver at vertiginous but skilful speed to within bus distance of Mansion House Tube. The driver was returning from evacuation charter, and was proud that his wife had been telephonist with John Murray. He admired Hitler, but was bitter at what he foresaw must be coming, and declared frankly that he had no intention of joining up for the moment. I told him he might be well advised to do so while he could still pick and choose his Unit and before he was forced by general conscription. I combated not without success his standard objections that these wars were for the benefit of those with money and did down the working man. The truth is he does not want to fight; and who the devil does. But it just as well to explain these things intelligibly and this I think I did.

On getting down at Wood Green and running for my bus I was knocked flat on my face by a cyclist who, far from apologising, cursed me for not getting out of the way. I picked myself up more startled than physically hurt. From Mansion House all the way to S Kensington in but 20 minutes and from Covent Garden to S K non-stop; but lost the gain by waiting 20 minutes for a bus, being crowded away from the only 14, and so returning by taxi, even thus before 5.30. IB in charge. She had telephoned about 12.30 to me surprisingly unaware of latest "developments", because of course she was working at 84 where is no wireless. Brownjohn has been called up to ARP and the Prestons cannot stay, nor do I know at what time Annie may arrive. I inspected the Maginot line, gave McGowan and Graham (whom I suspect of having "come down in the world") each a whisky and a cigar.

Telephoned to Gaselee with immediate communication, and the astonishing news that he would be at the FO tomorrow, where I was to meet him for luncheon. Telephoned for appointment with MacDonald in the vain hope of his urging my qualifications where they may be of use; otherwise I feel perilously inclined to return to Mill House and sulk like Achilles in my far less comfortable tent. My impression is that the average Englishman and woman does not comprehend the situation, and still thinks that because war has not officially been made on us, there is still a hope of our keeping out. If so, they will be swiftly and rudely undeceived. So by crowded 14 to Piccadilly Circus. The bus was entirely darked, but rather characteristically no one seemed the least surprised or commented upon that nor the blackness of the streets. Cinemas were open, but you would not have known it from their exteriors.

I could not help thinking that there will be a heavy toll of deaths from these lightless cars until people get accustomed to the absence of warning. Pall Mall quite dark, save, I am ashamed to say, for a brilliant beam of light from the west window of the Travellers, and an almost illuminated front door, to both of which I drew the attention of the staff. I dined alone, having a few words with Geoffrey Dawson, who may offer me something as special correspondent, which, if in a neighbourhood where I am known, would please me well. After dinner telephoned to L. It is apparent that the deep waters of the new family party are beginning to go over her soul, and she warned me against coming down.

A Bickersteth, son of the old Canterbury Canon buttonholed me, and I sat down with him, Massey of Canada, and Kenneth Clark for an hour. KC had been dining with Rab Butler. The Ministry has resigned to give the PM a chance of introducing new blood. Italy keeping out for the moment: a beam in darkness, let it grow. KC had been planning the evacuation of the NG for the past year and had had the frames of most of the larger pictures so arranged that by a pressing a spring the panel or canvas is released. He had distributed the entire collection in well under a week, and is now fearing the Government may force him to send away several forgeries and B quality stuff which he had hoped in the event of an air raid might be destroyed. V&A cannot have sent much of their stuff out of London and have probably had to trust to cellars. BM have most of their moveable stuff in the Tubes: winged bulls etc sandbagged.

Rab told me that in one of Hitler’s recent speeches to his Generals he had proclaimed himself as a second Ghengis Khan with a divine mission to extirpate all his enemies. One of the generals had immediately reported this to the German FO.

The Travellers closing tomorrow. KC proposes to live in the bombproof shelter in the NG. 6’ of concrete tested to resist anything up to a 400 lb HE bomb. The buses were again jet black and the sky thick with silver balloons in quantities I had never expected. A certain number of far too brilliantly illuminated rich cars, but the poorer sort and taxis most observant of regulations. EPG silent and deserted as the grave but the third floor windows of 83 and still worse 53, almost like sky signs which I noted for reporting to Ryder. At 84 I was at the greatest pains to cover all our traces and was I hope successful.

REEL 19A: BOX NUMBER VI/4
This box contains his manuscript diary from 1 Jan 1941 to 30 June 1942. The author spent most of this time in London and reports meetings with the following people, whose remarks he often records:

Hore-Belisha, Paul Dukes, Lord Lloyd, A S Symonds, Tom Driberg, Shane Leslie, Sefton Delmer, Hugh Walpole, Michael Arlen, Arthur Bryant, R A Butler, Camrose, Alec Cadogan, Brownlow, Amery, Trenchard, Monckton, Samuel, Kennington, G D H Cole, Harold Nicolson, Lord Elton, Duff Cooper, Duke of Connaught, Weizmann, de Gaulle, Vansittart, G M Trevelyan.

Storrs made a visit to neutral Eire which is of interest and was received by De Valera. Storrs was in touch with various allied refugee governments and reports the gossip of their London representatives.

REEL 19B: BOX NUMBER VI/5
This box contains the diary typed from 1 July 1942 to 9 Nov 1944. The most interesting period is from 13 November 1942 to 18 May 1943 which the author spent on a lecture tour. During this time he visited Spain, Portugal, Algiers, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Libya. He records snippets of information and recounts meetings with Eisenhower, Cunningham, Harold Macmillan, Lampson, King Faruq, Simon Elwes, King Abdallah, Spears, Same as-Sulh, Catroux, the Shah, King of Greece, Fares el-Khouri, Nuri Said and General Anders among others. He makes some notes of each conversation.

The rest of the diary of the period is an account of London in wartime. Storrs was on the edge of Cabinet gossip and reports conversations with Duff Cooper, Leo Amery, Hore-Belisha, Oliver Lyttleton, Eden, Cripps, Moyne, Rab Butler, Lord Simon, and Vansittart. He overlapped with literary circles and records talks and impressions of Cyril Connolly, Harold Nicolson, Ethel Smyth, and Raymond Mortimer. Storrs always kept an interest in Arab affairs and met during this time Kamil Shamun, Rafiz Wahbaa, Norman Bentwich, Freya Stark, Lord Samuel. Storrs was very interested in the allied Governments in London and kept particularly in touch with the Polish, reporting frequent reactions from Raczynski. He also met the Kings of Greece and Yugoslavia. Other people of note who are mentioned are Walter Monckton, Eddie Marsh, Tom Driberg, Koestler, Osbert Sitwell, Admiral Horton, Osbert Lancaster, Prof Joad, Cecil Beaton, Robert Graves, Alfred Douglas, Gladwyn Jebb, Beecham, Wavell, Barrington Ward, and Kenneth de Courcy.

The following excerpt describes a visit to the Front:


17.1.43. 5.45 am To Emb’y where military cars took self, Teviot, Ailwin and Lawson to Heliopolis. Still night but the dawn came, mild, soon after 6, and it was day when we left in our low flying Lodestar Lockheed at 6.30. Only 2 comfortable chairs, in which we took turns. By 7 we were out of the Delta and into the desert. 7.15 Wadi Nutrun, with its odd pool of faintly steaming porphyry. At 7.45 we turned S, for the 35 miles of the Alamain Lines. Bomb craters and minefield, 5000 yds deep, very clear. By 8 Bir Hamaimat, where the French fought not very good delaying action, 8.10 Qattara depression, water and brown sult-marah, a natural defence. We flew between 1000 and 600 ft, losing half an hour because of strong W wind. Clumps of wrecked Wop tanks, and many planes. First houses at Fuka, 8.45 w cultivation and 1 or 2 ships visible. We ran parallel with the railway. 2 trains E bound. Long anti-tank ditches, floodable from the sea. M Matruh 9.15; harbour sharply turquoise through sapphire to outside amethyst and good landing in cold wind. 4 Just Men stept aground, animated by one and the same purpose. Left 9.35 and got into bumpy weather. 10.30 Helfaya to S and Sollum to N, a tiny port. H awkward looking, even from the air. 11.10 due S of Tobruk, in Knightsbridge, whence along 32 parallel for Benina, the drome of Benghazi, which we reached at 12.35 and left by car at 5 to 1 over rough stony green, rather like that of Judaea. Visits to officers and men of Durham Lt Infantry and East Yorkshire Regt. Interested in home conditions of Durham, Hull etc and inquired whether the old folks would like some bully beef, going so far as to present me ironically with a tin (which I secretly returned to store)….In Cyrenaica Eg currency used, but from Tripolitania Br Mil Authority notes, with Italian lire for small change, at 480 to £ or 1/2d … to Lt Gen Nicholls, most entertaining. Just returned after day’s work, from mushrooming: 20 good ones "from tops of hills – I suppose the soldiers pick all they can without climbing". Had many foreign detachments under him Greeks? Excellent, and consciously modelling their methods on ours; deplorable on parade. Free French good, but must be allowed their own way in everything; Czechs, very good, but none knew English and none of us knew Czech, Arab Legion’s: spirited fighters, but liked driving to the battle at far greater than safety speed, and would jab Greek drivers in bum with points of their knives to make them step on the gas… I could have listened to him much longer. So to my host for the night. Br Gen Peake, cousin to Peak (whose wife "gives him hell"), an agreeable man living in a travelling bed-office-lorry, with "penthouse" attachment, making a little extra tent each side. He insisted, to my real embarrassment in yielding me his own room. Dinner with Lt Gen Horrocks, commanding 10^th Corps: tall fair clean-shaven, looking some 56, actually 49, a man of equal ability and charm. Ailwyn and I detailed here. Teviot (lives in Hants, Dir of Lloyds) and Lawson to the Division. An amusing dinner. 8^th Army now 30^th and 10^th Corps. In the great battle Rommel did "luckily" the very thing they’d predicted. Is now ploughing up dromes very far W. When that’s done it’s quicker to make a new drome than to repair the old. Mines (sham as effective as real because equally delaying) a dreadful handicap. Enthusiastic about Montgomery: as brilliant as sure. Hoped I’d remarked temper of men. Lots had been 6 months in the desert, without seeing a house, a women or (he didn’t add "even") a civilian; never a word of complaint, in their greatest discomforts. Food wonderful. For Christmas turkey, sausages, plum pudding, beer, port, cigarettes – up to the armoured cars in touch with the Germans. Men realise that their folks at home got nothing and are very grateful. Problem of occupying them – from 5pm to 6am. Tripoli should fall soon – final end of Impero. Rommel would sooner have retired at once on Tunis, "crowding the goal mouth", but must have been forced, like other generals, by the politicians – one for my 3 colleagues. If we could only outstrip him to Tahuna; we might cut him off. Distance of line now as though we had to keep supplied an army fighting in Moscow, sending tanks for repair back to London. Reinforcements from Alexandria 5-6 days to bring.

REEL 20: BOX NUMBER VI/6
This box contains the diary for 1945. It is type-written and composed very definitely with an eye to publication or posterity as it contains much "fine writing" and description and even laborious jokes.
Storrs spent the first half of the year on a tour which took him to Egypt, Libya, Eritrea, Abyssinia and the Sudan before mid-February. In this period he records conversations with Spears and Faruq. The next section up to the end of March contains reports of his tour to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and India. During this period he talked with Ibn Saud, Rafiz Wahba, Edward Grigg, Faruq, Aga Khan, Nuri Said, Prince Paul of Greece, Wavell, Freya Stark, Firuz Num and Auchinleck. The next part until the end of May continues his travels in India, Ceylon, Egypt and Italy. During this time he talked with Lord Casey, Gort, Azzam Fasha, Wokrashi, Pope Pius XII and Bernard Berenson. Little of interest in period 23 May to 22 October, although he met Monckton, Noel Coward, Avery, abd al-Illah, David Margeson, Beveridge, Beecham and Duff Cooper. October 23 to Nov 12 tours Germany for the Admiralty – stories of immediately post-war Germany, including the following account of Berlin:

14.XI.45 State of Russian controlled E Germany terrible. All estates of over 240 acres confiscated, and broken up into 10 acre plots which are handed to people with no knowledge of agriculture, but plenty of politics. System will of course break down, and be the pretext for collectivisation, as from the beginning intended by the Rusks. All correspondents are Nurembergwarding for the trial on the 20^th: uniformed and each in his own car. Miles’s Flags took me out (in M’s Daimler). First to the Orient Teppiche which proved to be an Armenian rug shop in full blast. Flags astonished they should dare, when the Military are requisitioning right and left, but they seemed unaware of the horror of their situation. More shops are open than one would think, and there are one or two rare tram services going. We passed the fantastically ruined Dom, the almost untouched Kaiser Wilhelm I Memorial with its mixed menagerie of Victory beasts, and its opulent nymphs sprawling down the steps. Again to the Chancery, which he thinks, and I agree, will crack up dangerously when frost succeeds the general rain seepage. I find that the chandelier room I’d taken for Hitler’s was the banqueting hall. His, even larger, gives onto the colonnade and garden steps. His desk was 30 ft broad, of concrete, resting upon 8 pairs of thinly veneered faux refectory table Tudor legs. Indeed we came to the conclusion that everything in the building, except the filthiness compounded (and probably often acted there) is Ersatz, in utter opposition to the German genius. To right and left of the desk doors, the inner giving onto a corridor protecting Goring, Goebbels and ? Himmler in their huge offices from the noise (and knowledge) of the main axis of long resounding halls. The outer door gives H access to lav, bathroom, dub (of which not only the duck-egg blue tiles but even the plus has been "collected" as a souvenir, and the small outer room with rifled safe, where in his paroxysms of epileptic frenzy he would fling himself down and chew the carpet. We walked across the garden, and down the two flights of his shelter, to the lowest depths, only to find that the great steel door leading into the rooms had been locked by the Rusks, and that no man knew where was the key. Disappointed Canucks outside, listening to a woman explaining and buying iron crosses from a Rusk officer. We gave it up, and went to the SS barracks for his own bodyguard of personal thugs – a word which makes me quiver with pleasure every time I write it or say it:- ersatz marbloleo of pillars, and the gilt glass mosaic littering the rubble and the rubbish. Outside still the boys and youths offering medals and regimental badges, for cigarettes. ... All declare that the Ruhr is worse, flatter, quite flat. And I suppose the two Jap cities far worse still. Not so hard really now to disrupt the planet, release the central gases and fires and puff off as a meteor into the Milky Way, if only clever men will concentrate their abilities in that direction, and cease wasting their time over beauty and truth in form and sound and word – and life like my Girl. We drove to the almost untouched Stadium, which is superb. Seats 120,000, each with a perfect view and, unlike poor Wembley, not the smallest difficulty from beginning to end, in finding one’s place.
BOX NUMBER VI/7
This box contains the Diary for 1946-7. By now Storrs appears to have given up all hope of further employment and led a much less active life. He was frequently complaining about his health. He continued to interest himself in the Palestine situation and occasionally reports conversations about it or comments on the news. He kept in touch with Arab opinion, seeing King Abdullah and King Faisal, and often met Arab diplomats and Albert Hourani. Other people of note mentioned in this period are Lord Gowett, Louis Golding, Rab Butler, Arthur Koestler, Edward Gridd, Ivone Kirkpatrick, Lord Winster, Beecham, Leo Amery and Lord Alexander of Hillsborough.

REEL 21: BOX NUMBER VI/8
This box contains the final periods for which Storrs kept a Diary. This is from 1 January 1948 to 31 December 1950 with a gap in June 1948. One is conscious of the effort to find something to say to pad out a diary. Comments on Arab and world affairs are based more and more upon the newspaper rather than from information derived from talks with prominent people. The number of important people that Storrs met in this period is much smaller than in earlier years. He records conversations with Eddie Marsh, Beecham, Osbert Sitwell, Harold Nicolson. On visits abroad Storrs and Robert Hitchens and Prince Muhammad Ali in Switzerland. In Scandinavia he was received by the Crown Prince and by Sibelius (very much set piece writing). On a tour to Italy he met with the Pope and Bernard Berenson. There are a few odd pages from a diary for 1955. The following extract records his meeting with Sibelius:
(NB. TB = Thomas Beecham)

25.2.49 Dr Grundy of the British Council had kindly arranged that Sibelius should receive me after luncheon on Friday. The Minister was good enough to drive him and me out in the Legation car. It was my first drive in sunny weather, and I very much liked what I saw of the prospect, noticing however that there appeared very little attempt at town or village planning: the attractive little shingle houses being dumped down apparently wherever the owner happened to have been able to buy a plot of land. (Grundy tells me that there are now town planners for at any rate all the urban districts of Finland and that this haphazard system is coming to an end). Many of these little wooden houses are the temporary quarters of farmers from E Finland, dispossessed by the re-drawing of the Russian boundary. The drive took us, I suppose, 40 minutes to Jarvenpaa village until we drove off the main road up a short track to Ainola (named after S’s wife) to the moderate sized attractive entrance, and were greeted there in the charming Finnish manner by an elderly parlourmaid and taken straight into the inner room in which S receives his guests and keeps his books. Floors (to me very attractive) of scrupulously clean unpolished, unstained pine planks covered by occasional Finnish rugs. One of these dated 1808 was hanging on the wall. A portion of the forest behind the house on which S loves to walk in fine weather, was given to him by the Finnish nation. I had gathered from S’s attractive white-haired daughter, Madame Ilves, that here father might get tired after half-an-hour, so I put the responsibility on her of turning us out at the right moment. She told me that his habits are very late. He begins to work after dinner and very often goes on until 4 o’clock in the morning; anyhow Mme Sibelius and he never retires before one. He never had more than two or three scraps of paper with a few notes jotted on them until he seriously transcribed the composition already existing in his brain, when he would concentrate for three or four days until it was done: sometimes, but rarely, confirming chords and sequences on the piano. Grundy was furious as we stopped to behold a photographer complete with camera and flash lamp lurking in the background, Sibelius hating all kinds of publicity; I gather he gave the man the rough end of his tongue. After two or three minutes Sibelius came in, stooping a little and thus appearing short, completely bald with an expression of equal kindness and sincerity, scrupulously neat in a double-breasted navy-blue serge suit (by far the best dressed composer I ever saw). He greeted us very warmly and I made a brief speech conveying the affectionate homage of the Royal Philharmonic Society and giving him to keep my written instruction from them to that effect. I told him that they had preferred sending me personally because anyone can write and post a letter whereas an emissary (however unworthy) proves anyhow the intention of respect. He thanked me very kindly and bade me convey to the RPS his deep appreciation and gratitude. He said he had already heard of me from TB. On this I handed him T’s latest records of the 6^th Symphony (glad to get them out of my luggage whose weight they had grievously increased for the past few weeks). At this point it occurred to Grundy that perhaps S would not mind the photographer and Mme Ilves suggested Grundy going to make certain he was still there; but it was too late, for the man had been frightened away. I questioned Sibelius about English composers. He is interested in Britten; rates Vaughan Williams very highly, saying that W’s Symphonies prove a very noble character. He seems to think less of Elgar. TB he places with but before Toscanini as by far the foremost conductor in thee world. I mentioned to him Liszt’s Symphonic Poem – Dante, and was delighted when he shook his head and said "Perfumed, perfumed – and much too long". When I asked him what he though of Oriental (Arabic and Persian) music he enchanted both Scott and me by saying briefly but emphatically "humbug": a masterly concision. He knows Latin as well, but not Greek. When he said that he felt, considering my journeys and duties all over the world, that he himself was a sort of Robinson Crusoe, I answered that no amount of physical travel could compare with the extent of his spiritual adventure and wrote for him Horace’s Coelum non animum mutant cui trans mars currant.

He understood it perfectly, folded the paper and put it in his pocket. I think he understands English better than his relative lack of command of the spoken language would indicate, but sometimes we had to call upon Mme Ilves to translate. Scott was much better off in this respect because of his knowledge of Swedish. Sibelius spoke finely of early English music, Tallis, Purcell, etc, but seemed to my surprise to know less about Byrd – whom we consider by far the greatest of the lot. The Edinburgh Musical Festival begged him to come over last year but he very wisely refused; and I should doubt whether he ever leaves Finland again.


BOX NUMBER VI/9: This box has been omitted from the microfilm edition.
This box contains extracts from the diaries which have been typed. The extracts are not in good order and a random survey shows that the original diary has been somewhat edited in these extracts.

REEL 22: BOX NUMBER VI/10
This box contains letters received by Storrs after 1933. The majority of them are of very little interest, being replies to letters of congratulation or condolence. Others are letters of thanks. There are letters from the following:

Vansittart, Herbert Samuel, Compton MacKenzie, Lowell Thomas, Harold Nicolson, Duff Cooper, Samuel Hoare, Marie Belloc-Lowndes, Hore-Belisha, Malcolm MacDonald, Rose Macaulay, John Rothenstein, Kenneth Clark, Shane Leslie, Maurice Baring , Eddie Marsh, J M Keynes, Osbert Sitwell, GG Coulton, Robert Graves, Vita Sackville-West, Leo Amery, E L Spears, Augustus John, Sacheverell Sitwell, Mountbatten, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Charles Morgan, Duke of Connaught, Axel Munthe, Bernard Berenson, Somerset Maugham

In addition to the above, some 50 letters of equivalent interest were added in 1977 by purchase. Writers include:

Pre-1933
Prince Ibrahim Hilmi, Princess Ileana of Rumania, Nashab Pasha, Vince Sheean, Lord Lloyd, George Belcher, Louis Mountbatten, Said Kiamil Pasha

1934
Mrs Randolph Churchill

1935
Lord Zetland, Lord Crewe, Lord Anglesey, Lord Winterton, J W Mackail, Mrs Austen Chamberlain, Mrs Stanley Baldwin

1936
Mrs Austen Chamberlain, G T Clark, Lionel Curtis

1937
Fethi Okyar (Turkish Ambassador), Sir Zafrulla Khan

1938
Lord Winterton

1940
Firuz Khan Noon Duke of Alba
Portugese Ambassador Saudi Arabian Minister

1942
Daniel George, Lady Clarendon, Osbert Sitwell, Duff Cooper

1944
Sir William Jowitt, Lord Harewood

1945
John D Rockefeller Jnr

1947
Lord and Lady Samuel, General Sir Bernard Paget

1950
Osbert Lancaster

1952
Sir William Haley, Sir Alexander Cadogan, C S Gulbenkian

1953
Sir Ian Jacob, Douglas Fairbanks, Queen Joanna of the Bulgars

REEL 23: BOX NUMBER VI/11
This box deals with the publication of Storrs’ autobiography Orientations. It contains letters to and from publishers, correspondence with literary agents and serialised extracts. There is a considerable amount of what appears to be draft material – some typed and some in manuscript. There are letters of comments from Lord Samuel, Eddie Marsh, H G Wells and Arnold Wilson.

A folder of letters is marked "Pan Orientations". Some of these contain comments upon points of detail in the book, Many are from unknown people but there are also letters from Chaim Weizmann, Philby, Maurois, Samuel, Tweedsmuir, Rothenstein, W S Morrison, Shane Leslie, Kenneth Clark and Dame Ethel Smyth.

BOX NUMBERS VI/12 – 14: These three boxes have been omitted from the microfilm edition.
These 3 boxes are entitled "Ad Pyrrham" and contains translations of the poem by Horace into various languages in connection with an anthology of translations of this work published by Storrs. It contains odd correspondence about the translations and correspondence about Storrs’ other classical interests.

REEL 24: BOX NUMBER VI/15
This contains papers dealing with Israel. It consists mainly of newspaper cuttings from The Jewish Outlook, International Affairs, The New Judaea, Review of the Foreign Press, The Hibbert Journal, Palestine and The Times.

There are many notes in Storrs’ handwriting for his speeches. Other items include:
Two official Colonial Office publications; A reply to Dr Lowdermilk’s Jordan Valley scheme from Dr Hussain al-Khabir; A statement by Sir Edward Spears; Several pamphlets "Palestine" of 1936; A large file marked "Jewish Solution" which still contains the papers put in by Storrs; Letters from Deedes, Bentwich, Newcombe, and C Jarvis; Note on desertion of Jews from Polish forces; An album of photographs of the demonstration of 1933.

REEL 25: BOX NUMBER VI/16
This box contains lectures, broadcasts and articles on the Middle East.

There are lectures on the following subjects:
T E Lawrence
Three books on the Arabs (1946)
Transjordan (1946)
Britain and Egypt (1946)
Middle East Revisited (1945)
Portugal to Persia and back in wartime (1945)
Development of Egypt since 1904
Palestine (1938)
Near East (1937)
Christmas in the Holy Land (1953)
Arab Ambassadors
Arabs in the USA
World Affairs (1946)
Italian War in the Middle East
Bahai
Arab Countries (1928)
King Faruq
Kitchener (1939)
Mediterranean Rumours (1941)
Great English books on the Middle East (1949)
England and the Arabs
Jerusalem (1919)
English literature on the Middle East
Arab World (1948)
Propaganda on the Middle East
Holiday in Turkey
Shifting sands in the Middle East (1938)
Doughty

There are articles on: Kitchener; Lawrence; Cyprus, past, present and future; and King Abdullah and newspaper articles and reviews of Middle Eastern books.

Section VI Boxes 17-21 have been omitted. These are loose press cuttings and personal papers concerning Storrs’ retirement years. The following details are provided for scholars who may wish to consult these papers at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

BOX NUMBER VI/17
This box contains mainly newspaper cuttings dealing with the Middle East. It seems to have chiefly things that Storrs thought would be useful for his lectures on the Middle East. There are some hand outs from the Jordanian Minister of Information; a pamphlet "The Image of America in the Middle East" by Nbih Faris; Correspondence about possible post with Iraqi Data Monopoly; a file about Armenians; a pamphlet – "Mespot again" by J A de C Hamilton; Notes on Middle East History for Staff College; an article "Modern Literary Movement in Egypt" by A S Eden; A pamphlet "Action in Egypt" 1956; An envelope marked "Oil" containing cuttings and Company handouts; and a file "Portugal to Persia" containing drafts of speeches made on his war-time tour.

BOX NUMBER VI/18
This box contains papers dating from after Storrs’ retirement which do not appear to be of Middle Eastern interest. Among them are: Papers about Beecham’s 70^th birthday; Speech at LCC; Speech at Festival of Sons of the Clergy; Speech at Omer Khayyam Club; Newspaper obituary of Bevin; Agreement for publishing War History; Notes for a projected life of Gaselee; Reprint of article from Ethnos on Mongolian chess men; Room arrangements for Viceroy’s house, Delhi; Press cuttings about his tours; Papers dealing with Royal Philharmonic Society; Correspondence about book with Eric Kennington on "Drawing the RAF" ; Papers about the Order of St John of Jerusalem; a file on Storrs’ health; and proofs of book reviews.

BOX NUMBER VI/19
This box contains papers dating from after Storrs’ retirement which are not of Middle Eastern interest. One file deals with the affairs of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, while others are concerned with the arts and music. An envelope contains letters of appreciation after his broadcast on the death of Maurice Baring. One of these is from T S Eliot. There is odd correspondence about the Nikaean Club; a file about the correct dress of territorials and Deputy Lieutenants; Papers regarding the London Choral Society; a file entitled "Letters and poems from friends"; the script of a broadcast: Persons, Preferences and Prejudices; British Council notes on Finland (marked Confidential – do not leave lying about); Press cuttings of his tour in Sicily; Letters from Ruth Piter; and a bundle of cuttings about France dating from the early days of the war.

BOX NUMBER VI/20
This box contains papers dating from after Storrs’ retirement that are not of Middle Eastern interest. A considerable portion deals with his interest in Dante. Another large portion is headed "Attempts at and offers of employment". It contains letters signed by J L Garvin, Wavell, Hoare, Hankey, Malcolm MacDonald, Hore-Belisha, Duff Cooper, Amery and Walter Monckton.

BOX NUMBER VI/21
This box contains papers dating from after Storrs’ retirement which are not of apparent Middle Eastern interest. There are papers on Church of England Foreign Relations; the draft for book on War Losses: there would be chapters on Ethel Smyth and Maurice Baring; Articles on LCC; Reviews of his War History; Papers dealing with his lecture tour of Scandinavia; and copies of his lecture "Four Great Books" – also a version in Italian.

REEL 26: BOX NUMBER VII/1
This box contains photographs. Of particular interest are one of Faisal taken by Storrs and an official picture of Storrs with Sharif Hussein. There are some fine pictures of Jerusalem under snow. There are pictures dating from Storrs’ time in Northern Rhodesia showing both formal and informal occasions. There are also portraits of local notables and scenes of native life.

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