Harold Beeley

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Sir Harold Beeley

CBE (15 February 1909 – 27 July 2001)[1] was a British diplomat, historian, and Arabist. After beginning his career as a historian and lecturer, following World War II
, Beeley joined the British diplomatic service and served in posts and ambassadorships related to the Middle East. He returned to teaching after retiring as a diplomat and stayed active in many organisations related to the Middle East.

Early life and academics

Beeley was born in

Duckworth in 1936.[3]

Beeley did not serve in the British armed forces during

UN Trusteeship Council along with Ralph Bunche.[4]

Before becoming a diplomat, Beeley was chosen to serve as Secretary of the

Jewish Agency.[2][5] According to The New York Times, his views on the issue may have helped persuade Ernest Bevin to try to limit Jewish immigration to the region.[5]

Diplomatic career

Beginning

In 1946, Beeley officially joined

Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, which at his age was later than most.[1] His first posting was as assistant in the geographical department responsible for Palestine, which led him to advise Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin.[1] Together with Bevin, he negotiated "the Portsmouth Treaty" with Iraq (signed on 15 January 1948), which was accompanied by a British undertaking to withdraw from Palestine in such a fashion as to provide for swift Arab occupation of all its territory. According to then-Iraqi foreign minister Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali
,

"It was agreed that Iraq would buy for the Iraqi police force 50,000 tommy-guns. We intended to hand them over to the Palestine army volunteers for self-defence. Great Britain was ready to provide the Iraqi army with arms and ammunition as set forth in a list prepared by the Iraqi General Staff. The British undertook to withdraw from Palestine gradually, so that Arab forces could enter every area evacuated by the British so that the whole of Palestine should be in Arab hands after the British withdrawal. The meeting ended and we were all optimistic about the future of Palestine."[1]

Beeley spent 1949 to 1950 as the Deputy Head of Mission in

Jidda,[2] and was forced to return.[1]

Suez

After he recovered, Beeley returned in June 1956 to be the Assistant Under-Secretary for Middle East affairs,[4] where he remained until 1958,[1] living in London's St John's Wood.[2] During this time, he was not informed of the secret plans drawn up between Britain, France, and Israel that resulted in the Suez Crisis; this led him sincerely though mistakenly tell to US officials that there were no plans for a British intervention.[1] Beeley not only participated in efforts to end the international crisis, but also chaired the Suez Canal Users' Association in its aftermath.[4]

United Nations

In 1958, he left his desk job to be Deputy Head of the

Buraimi dispute as well as the UN's peacekeeping mission in the Congo (Léopoldville), and developed a close relationship with UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld.[4] He also took part in the 1958 Murphy-Beeley mission, which was launched in response to French bombings over the border into Tunisia during the Algerian War.[4]

Egypt

In 1961, he left New York City to become the

Nasser, unequalled by any British envoy of his generation."[3] Among his accomplishments during this first period was gaining permission for the British Council to return to Egypt and in settling compensation claims made by British citizens who had been expelled from the country.[4] His second tour occurred in the wake of the Six-Day War, yet he again succeeded in repairing relations.[3]

Later life

Harold Beeley returned to academia following the end of his diplomatic career and also served in several positions related to the Middle East. In 1969, he became a lecturer in history at

Queen Mary College, London, where he remained until 1975.[1] He also became president of the UK's Egypt Exploration Society in 1969, and served as such until 1988.[3] In 1971 he and Christopher Mayhew were instrumental in the establishment of a periodical on current events in the Arab world, Middle East International, of which he became vice-chairman.[4] In 1973, he was appointed chairman of the World of Islam Festival Trust, where he stayed until 1996, and from 1981 to 1992 Beeley served as chairman of the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce.[3]

Personal life

Beeley married twice, first to Millicent Chinn in 1933, with whom he had two daughters. They divorced in 1953 and he then married Patricia Brett-Smith in 1958, with whom he had another daughter, Vanessa Beeley, who is a blogger known for her reporting on the conflict in Syria and her support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.[6][7][8][9][10]

Patricia died in 1999.[1] According to a 1958 profile in The New York Times, Beeley was said to have enjoyed walking, theatre, and films.[2]

Honours

Writings

  • Beeley, Harold (1936). Disraeli. London: Duckworth.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Longrigg, John (2 August 2001). "Sir Harold Beeley". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e "A Scholar and a Diplomat; Harold Beeley". The New York Times. 10 April 1958. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Sir Harold Beeley". The Daily Telegraph. 22 November 2001. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Weir, Michael (31 July 2001). "Obituary: Sir Harold Beeley". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  5. ^ a b c "British Expert on Arabs; Harold Beeley". The New York Times. 24 October 1967. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  6. ^ "Britisk journalist svarer Khader igen: "Jeg er hverken støttet af Assad eller Putin"". Jyllands-Posten (in Danish). 2 January 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  7. ^ Keate, Georgie; Kennedy, Dominic; Shveda, Krystina; Haynes, Deborah (14 April 2018). "Apologists for Assad working in British universities". The Times. Retrieved 14 April 2018. (subscription required)
  8. ^ "How An Obscure British Blogger Became Russia's Key Witness Against The White Helmets". HuffPost. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  9. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Disinformation and Conspiracy Trolling in the Wake of the Syrian Chemical Attack". Snopes.com. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  11. ^ "Disraeli, by Harold Beeley". Library of Congress. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
Diplomatic posts
Unknown
British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

1955 		Succeeded by
Preceded byas Chargé d'affaires
British Ambassador to the United Arab Republic

1961–1964 		Succeeded by
Sir George Middleton
Vacant
Sir George Middleton
British Ambassador to the United Arab Republic

1967–1969 		Succeeded by
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