Kinahan Cornwallis
Kinahan Cornwallis | |
---|---|
Born | 19 February 1883 |
Died | 3 June 1959 North Warnborough, Basingstoke | (aged 76)
Sir Kinahan Cornwallis
Early life and education
Kinahan Cornwallis was born on 19 February 1883 in the United States and was the son of British poet, writer, and world traveler
Career
Director of the Arab Bureau
From 1916 to 1920, Cornwallis was the Director of the Arab Bureau. He had been deputy director of the bureau under David Hogarth, a Naval Intelligence officer.
The Arab Bureau was created by the British as a section of the
.Advisor
As the British advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Cornwallis played a part in the ratification of the
On 11 September 1923, Cornwallis asked the British administrative inspectors in all Iraqi provinces (liwa) to telegraph him the names of candidates who they and the Iraqi provincial governors felt would vote for the treaty.[3]
On 8 February 1924, after considering the names, Cornwallis sent each provincial inspector and governor a list of proposed candidates for the 100-member constituent assembly. The treaty was ratified by the assembly on 24 March 1924. A quorum of only 69 out of 100 delegates participated in the meeting. Of the 69, only 37 voted for the treaty; and even these votes came only after the British
In 1940, Cornwallis wrote the Introduction to Gertrude Bell's posthumously published The Arab War.[4] Bell died in 1926. The book was censored by a mark indicating confidential information for General Headquarters from Bell bring composed of dispatches from the secretive Arab Bulletin. According to his signature, Cornwallis wrote the Introduction while in Petersfield.
Ambassador to Iraq
On 1 April 1941, pro-
On 18 April, as part of
Following the landing of the troops on 18 April,
On 29 April, a further three ships landed at Basra and brought ancillary troops.
On 30 April, when Ali was informed that ships containing even more British forces had arrived, he refused permission for these troops to disembark. Rashid Ali also began organizing for an armed demonstration at RAF Habbaniya[12] while anticipating German assistance would be forthcoming in the guise of aircraft and airborne troops.[9] Later that day, Iraqi ground forces with artillery took up strong positions on the escarpment above RAF Habbaniya.
Cornwallis signaled the
Were contact to break down between the Embassy in Baghdad and the besieged force at Habbaniya, the
The British air strikes were extremely successful and, by the evening of 6 May, the Iraqis abandoned the escarpment above Habbaniya. After the arrival of elements of
On the morning of 31 May, the Mayor of Baghdad and a delegation approached British forces at the Washash Bridge outside of Baghdad. With the Mayor was Sir Kinahan Cornwallis. Terms were quickly reached,[19] an armistice was signed,[20] and the monarchy and a pro-British government were put back in place. On 1 June, the Regent returned to Baghdad.[21] On 1 June an armed Iraqi mob began a two-day murder spree against Baghdad's Jews, known as "The Farhud". After two days the Mayor of Baghdad and police loyal to the Iraqi monarchy quelled the violence by imposing a curfew and shot violators on sight. An investigation conducted by the journalist Tony Rocca of the London Sunday Times criticized Cornwallis's conduct, when he refused to act against the riots even though he was urged to do so by British army and government officials.[22]
Family life
On 14 October 1911 in London, Cornwallis married Gertrude Dorothy Bowen, daughter of Sir Albert Edward Bowen, 1st Baronet, and Alice Anita Crowther. They had a daughter Elisabeth Cornwallis (1912–1999), and two sons; Richard Kinahan Cornwallis and Peter Brownell Cornwallis (who was killed in action along with his Australian flight crew while flying over the North Sea on a supplies mission to Norway in February 1945). Kinahan and Gertrude Cornwallis divorced in 1925.[23] Cornwallis married again in 1937 to Margaret Hilda Mary Clark. He died 3 June 1959 at his home at North Warnborough, Basingstoke, aged 76.
See also
- Arab Revolt
- Greater Syria
- Arab Bureau
- Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916
- League of Nations
- British Mandate of Mesopotamia
- British Mandate of Palestine
- Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922
- Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930
- Kingdom of Iraq
- British-Iraqi relations
- 1941 Iraqi coup d'état
- Farhud
- T. E. Lawrence – Following Lawrence and archaeologist D. G. Hogarth, Corwallis edited the Arab Bulletin (1916–1920).
- Gertrude Bell – Corwallis wrote introduction to The Arab War. Confidential Information for General Headquarters from Gertrude Bell. Being Despatches reprinted from the secret "Arab Bulletin."
- Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani– Corwallis was British Ambassador to Iraq during his uprising.
- Mulla Effendi – Corwallis attended the funeral for this respected Arab leader.
- Claudius James Rich
Notes
- Footnotes
- ^ Six Gloster Gladiators fighters and one Vickers Wellington bomber, carrying spare parts.[10]
References
- ^ a b "Sir Kinahan Cornwallis." Times [London, England] 5 June 1959: 17. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 August 2016.
- ^ Bengio, p.16
- ^ a b Bengio, p.17
- ^ Bell, pp. 3-5,
- ^ Lyman, p.18
- ^ Lyman, p. 31
- ^ a b c Playfair, p. 179
- ^ Mackenzie, p. 92
- ^ a b Martin, p. 42
- ^ a b c d Playfair, p. 182
- ^ Playfair, pp. 179 – 180
- ^ a b Playfair, p. 181
- ^ Mackenzie, pp. 92 – 93
- ^ Playfair, p. 178
- ^ Jackson, p. 149
- ^ a b c Playfair, p. 183
- ^ Mackenzie, p. 94
- ^ Wavell, p. 3439
- ^ Lyman, pp. 84-85
- ^ Mackenzie, p.104
- ^ Lyman, p. 86
- ^ "Memories of Eden – Haaretz – Israel News". Archived from the original on 30 March 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ The Peerage, Person Page – 17605
Bibliography
- Bell, Gertrude (1940). The Arab War. London: The Golden Cockerel Press. p. 50.
- Bengio, Ofra. Michael Eisenstadt; Eric Mathewson (eds.). U.S. Policy in Post-Saddam Iraq: Lessons from the British Experience (PDF). Washington Institute for Near East Policy – via The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.
- ISBN 0-395-41057-6.
- Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 1-85285-417-0.
- Lyman, Robert (2006). Iraq 1941: The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad. Campaign. Oxford, New York: Osprey Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 1-84176-991-6.
- OCLC 59637091.
- Martin, Colonel Thomas Alexander (1952). The Essex Regiment, 1929–1950. Essex Regiment Association.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher D. FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
- ISBN 1-84574-065-3.
- Playfair, Major-General I.S.O.; with Flynn R.N., Captain F.C.; Molony, Brigadier C.J.C. & Toomer, Air Vice-Marshal S.E. (2004) [1st. pub. HMSO 1956]. Butler, J.R.M (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume II The Germans come to the help of their Ally (1941). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-066-1.
- Wavell, Archibald (1946). Despatch on Operations in the Middle East From 7th February, 1941 to 15th July 1941. London: War Office. in "No. 37638". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 1946. pp. 3423–3444.
- Wavell, Archibald (1946). Despatch on Operations in Iraq, East Syria and Iran from 10th April, 1941 to 12th January, 1942. London: War Office. in "No. 37685". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 August 1946. pp. 4093–4102.
External links
- "Archibald Wavell's Despatch on Operations in the Middle East From 7th February, 1941 to 15th July 1941" (PDF). Supplement to The London Gazette, Number 37638. 3 July 1946. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
- "Archibald Wavell's Despatch on Operations in Iraq, East Syria, and Iran From 10th April, 1941 to 12th January 1942" (PDF). Supplement to the London Gazette, Number 37685. 13 August 1946. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
- The Peerage, Kirnahan Cornwallis
- 1932 Extradition Treaty
- The Arab War, Introduction by Kinahan Cornwallis