Syria and Mesopotamia in British middle eastern policy in 1919

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 129-170

  Fisher, John ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 11744357927     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263209808701226     Document Type: Article

References (137)

1. The Agreement provided for areas of direct British and French control, and for areas in which each country might exercise a predominating influence. Direct British control along the Southern coast of the Persian Gulf, in the Basra Vilayet, and in territory extending to the north of Baghdad, was replicated for France in a landlocked area which included Aleppo, Horns and Damascus. This area stretched almost to Urfa and Mardin, and east to Rowanduz. Indirect British control was to be exercised in a strip from Aqaba east to Kirkuk, thence south-east. France was to have indirect control on the Mediterranean coast from north of Haifa, including, towards its extremities, Mersin, Sivas, Diarbekir and Mardin. Palestine was to be placed under an international administration. The best and most recent overview of this subject is David Fromkin's A Peace To End All Peace, Creating The Modern Middle East 1914-1922 (London, 1991). Jeremy Wilson's Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised Biography of T.E. Lawrence (London, 1989) is excellent.
2. The Agreement provided for areas of direct British and French control, and for areas in which each country might exercise a predominating influence. Direct British control along the Southern coast of the Persian Gulf, in the Basra Vilayet, and in territory extending to the north of Baghdad, was replicated for France in a landlocked area which included Aleppo, Horns and Damascus. This area stretched almost to Urfa and Mardin, and east to Rowanduz. Indirect British control was to be exercised in a strip from Aqaba east to Kirkuk, thence south-east. France was to have indirect control on the Mediterranean coast from north of Haifa, including, towards its extremities, Mersin, Sivas, Diarbekir and Mardin. Palestine was to be placed under an international administration. The best and most recent overview of this subject is David Fromkin's A Peace To End All Peace, Creating The Modern Middle East 1914-1922 (London, 1991). Jeremy Wilson's Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised Biography of T.E. Lawrence (London, 1989) is excellent.
3. The Declaration had as its objective, 'the establishment of national governments and administrations deriving their authority from the initiative and free choice of the indigenous populations.' Previous, more direct, forms of imperialism were to be modified, with Britain and France pledging 'support and adequate assistance [for] the regular working of Governments and administrations freely chosen by the populations themselves'. For a detailed analysis of the origins of the Declaration see J. Fisher, Curzon and British Imperialism in the Middle East, 1916-19 (Frank Cass, forthcoming).
4. The Eastern Committee, which was formed in March 1918, replaced the Middle East Committee, also chaired by Curzon. It met on 49 occasions until, in Jan. 1919, it was replaced by an occasional Inter-Departmental Conference on the Middle East. Membership of the Eastern Committee was restricted to several senior figures including Curzon, Sir Henry Wilson, Smuts and Balfour.
5. Possibly a further important point in the matter of the interconnection between Mesopotamia and Syria was a meeting between Lloyd George and Clemenceau held on 1 Dec. 1918. Details of this encounter remain ambiguous. On 20 March 1919, Balfour informed Curzon that Clemenceau had 'asked him [Lloyd George] what he wanted, and he answered, "Mosul". Clemenceau replied, 'Then you shall have it'. Balfour expressed his personal satisfaction with this share of the spoils, adding, somewhat artfully, however, that 'it by no means gives us all that Faisal thinks we ought to have; and leaves Damascus and Aleppo, etc. in the French sphere, which Faisal swears he will on no account tolerate.' Hankey recorded the details somewhat differently, suggesting that Lloyd George had acceded to Clemenceau's stipulation of a single French administration covering both the Syrian littoral and, contrary to Sykes-Picot and the Anglo-French Declaration, the Syrian hinterland. Jeremy Wilson in his biography of T.E. Lawrence, alleges that as France feared the possibility of being compelled to cede Mosul and Palestine by virtue of American pressure invoked by Britain, she was, in fact, gaining most by the arrangement of 1 Dec. Some authors believe that France was also to obtain the Lebanon and Cilicia by virtue of the arrangement. This seems improbable since, by virtue of Sykes-Picot, which the French claimed to be binding, she was to have had control of those territories anyway. Establishing the basis of the discussion of 1 Dec. is rendered difficult by the ambiguity of Balfour's phrase, 'leaves Damascus and Aleppo, etc. in the French sphere'. Furthermore, the piecemeal fashion in which details of the arrangement were released in the following months - A.T. Wilson in Baghdad did not discover the existence of the arrangement until he visited Paris in the spring - has denied researchers any obvious indication of what did occur. Refs: Balfour to Curzon, 20 March 1919, private, Balfour Papers, Foreign Office Papers, FO 800/215 (Public Record Office); Roskill, Hankey, Man of Secrets (London, 1972), Vol.11 pp.28-9; Wilson, pp.589-92.
6. Allenby to Wilson, 22 Dec. 1918, G.H.Q., E.E.F., FO 371/4178, pp.262-3, enclosed in War Office to Foreign Office, Jan. 1919, ibid., P7094. Allenby was Commander in Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, 1917-19; High Commissioner Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-25.
7. Allenby to Wilson, 16 Nov. 1918, G.H.Q., E.E.F., in K. Jeffery, The Military Correspondence of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson 1918-22 (London, 1985),no.44.
8. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, 1917-22, had spoken in this sense at the Eastern Committee on 9 Dec. 1918. Minutes of the Eastern Committee, EC 42, Cabinet Office Papers, CAB 27/24 (PRO).
9. Picot was co-author of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and an exponent of French expansion in the Middle East.
10. See note 5 above.
11. Entry of 28 Jan. 1919, Cecil of Chelwood Diaries, Add. Ms 51131 (British Library). Lawrence was Liaison Officer between Allenby and Faisal. Sykes was co-author of the Sykes-Picot Agreement; Acting Adviser on Arabian and Palestinian affairs at the Foreign Office from the end of 1917; Attached to the British Delegation in Paris, 1919.
12. Spears to Wilson, 23 Jan. 1919, secret, L.S.W. 86, Mission Militaire Britannique, Près le Gouvernement Français, 4bis, Boulevard des Invalides, Paris, in Jeffery, no.54.
13. See note five, enclosure, Memorandum by D.G. Hogarth, 18 Dec. 1918, Arab Bureau, Savoy Hotel, Cairo, G.H.Q., E.E.F.
14. Undated minute by Curzon, FO 371/4178 p.260.
15. For a broader discussion of this issue, see J. Fisher, Curzon and British Imperialism, chapter 6.
16. G.H.Q. to War Office, 15 Dec. 1918, E.A. 1997, in Cubitt to Foreign Office, 31 Dec. 1918, War Office, FO 371/4142 p.424.
17. Ibid. Cubitt to Foreign Office.
18. Curzon objected to the arrangement because it confirmed the rights conferred upon France by Sykes-Picot. Picot was to be Allenby's Chief Political Adviser and 'sole intermediary' between Allenby and 'any Arab Government or Governments permanent or provisional, which may be set up in Area A...as may be necessary for the maintenance of order and the facilitating of military operations.' The personnel for this administration and the advisory staff for the Government or Governments of area 'A' were all to be provided by Picot.
19. Signed on 19 April 1917, the Agreement made provision for an Italian sphere of influence in and around Mersina and Adana, stretching west beyond Smyrna.
20. Minute by Kidston, 2 Jan. 1919, FO 371/4142, pp.422-3.
21. Ibid. Foreign Office to War Office, 3 Jan. 1919, p.429.
22. Ibid. Treasury to Foreign Office, 10 Jan. 1919, p.434.
23. Roux was French Consul at Basra and, according to Colonel Meinertzhagen, then attached to the Military Operations Branch of the Military Section of the British Delegation, he was 'an anti-British intriguer of the worst type and entirely unscrupulous.' Of course Meinertzhagen himself, with whom Roux had travelled in Abyssinia, was not above a little intrigue. See J.N. Lockman, Meinertzhagen 's Diary Ruse, False Entries On T.E. Lawrence (Michigan, 1995).
24. Young was an able and outspoken member of the Foreign Office Eastern Department who had previously served in military and civil capacities in the Middle East.
25. Ibid. Memorandum by H.W. Young, p.559ff. A signed and dated version of this memorandum may be found at FO 371/4204/17673, dated 8 Feb. 1919.
26. Curzon to Cambon, 19 March 1919, Foreign Office, secret, FO 371/4178 p.575.
27. D.M.I, to Foreign Office, 23 Jan. 1919, War Office, Synopsis of Enclosure (Memorandum on Future French Actions in Syria) by Capt. Hough, FO 371/4178 p.362ff.
28. Minute by Kidston, 2 Feb. 1919, FO 371/4148 pp.61-2.
29. Ibid.
30. Minute by Curzon, 28 Feb. 1919, FO 371/4179, p.26.
31. Ibid. Derby to Curzon, 25 Feb. 1919, no.414, pp.27-8.
32. See Minute by Curzon, 28 Feb. 1919, and minute by Young, 27 Feb. 1919, ibid., p.26.
33. A guarded proponent of British expansion in the east who served as Secretary of State for War, 1918-Jan. 1919, and Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1919-21. Milner took charge of Britain's negotiations with France over Syria early in 1919.
34. Mallet to Milner (?)17 Feb. 1919, enclosing 'Memorandum on the Choice of Mandatories in Syria and Constantinople', Milner Papers PRO/30/30/10.
35. Deputy-Director of Organisation, War Office, 1917; Chief of the Air Staff, 1918-19; head of British Air Section at Versailles; Controller General Civil Aviation, 1919-22.
36. Sykes to Milner, 8 Feb. 1919, British Delegation, Paris, and enclosure, Salmond to Sykes, 8 Feb. 1919, Milner Papers PRO/30/30/10.
37. See note 4 above.
38. English Translation of the French Draft of a proposed New Anglo-French Agreement on Syria, Montagu Papers AS4/15 (1) (Trinity College, Cambridge).
39. Comments by the Foreign Office Section, Paris, on the French Memorandum, 6 Feb. 1919, Milner Papers PRO 30/30/10. Also in FO 371/4180 pp.4-5.
40. Minute by Kidston, n.d., FO 371/4180 p.306ff.
41. Entry of 4 Feb. 1919, Chelwood Diaries, Add. Ms 51131.
42. 'Note On The Settlement of The Arab Provinces', 14 Feb. 1919, by G.L. Bell, in Bell to Balfour, 14 Feb. 1919, British Delegation, Paris, Balfour Papers FO 800/215. Bell had been an Assistant Political Officer in Baghdad and represented the Arab Bureau there. She corresponded with high-ranking officials and politicians including Hirtzel, Hardinge and Cromer.
43. Cecil to Lloyd George, 4 Feb. 1919, British Delegation, Paris, Lloyd George Papers F/6/6/5 (House of Lords Record Office).
44. Entry of 25 Feb. 1919, Chelwood Diaries, Add. Ms 51131.
45. Minutes of the Eastern Committee, EC 41, 5 Dec. 1918, pp.19-20.
46. Memorandum by G.F. Clayton, 11 March 1919, G.H.Q., E.E.F., Lloyd George Papers F/205/3/9.
47. Minute by A.J. Toynbee, 5 March 1919, FO 608/107 p.522.
48. Ibid. Minute by Bell, n.d., p.523.
49. Ibid. Minute by Hirtzel, 7 March 1919.
50. Hirtzel to Milner, 15 Feb. 1919, private, British Delegation, Paris, enclosing memorandum by Hirtzel, 'The French Claims in Syria', 14 Feb. 1919, Milner Papers PRO 30/30/10; also in Montagu Papers AS4/4/26. Unless otherwise stated the remaining material in this section relates to this memorandum.
51. Minute by Milner, n.d., Milner Papers 30/30/10.
52. Milner to Lloyd George, 8 March 1919, confidential, British Delegation, Paris, Lloyd George Papers F/39/1/10.
53. Minute by M.D. Peterson, 21 March 1919, FO 371/4179 p.170.
54. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 22 March 1919, p.268.
55. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 24 March 1919, p.227.
56. Hirtzel to Montagu, 24 March 1919, British Delegation, Paris, Montagu Papers AS4/4/27.
57. Minutes by Kidston and Graham, 26 March 1919, FO 371/4179 p.271; see also p.381.
58. Note respecting the Middle Eastern Question by Earl Curzon, 22 April 1919, FO 371/4180 p.35ff. The remaining material in this section relates to this memorandum.
59. Curzon to Balfour, 25 March 1919, Foreign Office, Balfour Papers FO 800/215 no.365.
60. See note 57 by Curzon, 22 April 1919.
61. Commander-in-Chief, Egypt, 14 May 1919, secret, no.(602)? FO 371/4180 p.247.
62. Ibid. Minute by Kidston, 26 May 1919, on Clayton's telegram 21 May 1919, no. EA 2457, p.322.
63. Hirtzel to Montagu, 24 March 1919, British Delegation, Paris, Montagu Papers AS4/4/27.
64. Balfour to Clayton, 29 May 1919, no 16, FO 371/4180 p.429.
65. Memorandum by Balfour, 'Syria and the French', 22 May 1919, secret, Balfour Papers Add. Ms 49752 (British Library).
66. Note by Hogarth for Balfour on Middle East Commission, 19 May 1919, Lothian Papers GD 40/17/38 (Scottish Record Office). Hogarth, along with Sir Henry McMahon, had been chosen to represent Britain on the Commission.
67. Minutes by Kidston, 3 June 1919, FO 371/4180 p.388,421; ibid., minute by Curzon, 4 June 1919, p.418.
68. Minutes by Kidston, 3 June 1919, FO 371/4180 p.388,421; ibid., minute by Curzon, 4 June 1919, p.418.
69. Allenby to Wilson, 17 May 1919, Cairo, in K. Jeffery, no 70, p.102.
70. Chief Egypt Force, Cairo, 12 June 1919, no EA 2529, FO 371/4181 p.182; ibid., General Clayton, Cairo, 15 June 1919, no EA 2536 p.210.
71. Chief Egypt Force, Cairo, 12 June 1919, no EA 2529, FO 371/4181 p.182; ibid., General Clayton, Cairo, 15 June 1919, no EA 2536 p.210.
72. Ibid. Clayton, 15 June 1919, no EA 2536 p.210.
73. Ibid. Minute by Curzon.
74. Ibid. Minute by M.D. Peterson, 7 July 1919, pp.358-9.
75. Gabriel to Curzon, 10 July 1919, O.E.T.A. H.Q. Jerusalem, Curzon Papers Eur. Ms F112/211 (Oriental and India Office Collections). Gabriel, who worked in the Palestinian military administration, was considered by Kidston to be an intriguer.
76. Memorandum by Cornwallis, 20 June 1919, Damascus (sent to Curzon July 1919) War Office Papers, WO 106/193 pp.103-16 (PRO).
77. Ibid. Col. French, no 378, 10 July 1919, pp.42-5.
78. Ibid. Note by Gribbon for D.M.I., Major General Thwaites, 16 July 1919.
79. Minute by Young, 7 July 1919, FO 371/4181 p.360.
80. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 9 July 1919.
81. Memorandum by Mr Balfour respecting Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia, 11 Aug. 1919, in Balfour to Curzon, 19 Sept. 1919, confidential, FO 371/4183 p.20ff.
82. Ibid. Minute by Hardinge, n.d., p. 19.
83. Ibid. Minute by Kidston, 22 Sept. 1919, p. 18.
84. Negotiations and agreements on the Evacuation of British Troops From Syria. App. 111 'Aide Memoire in Regard To The Occupation of Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia Pending The Decision In Regard to Mandates, 13 Sept. 1919, secret, FO 371/4182 pp.526-7; 'Note On Colonel Lawrence's Proposals by H.W. Young, 30 Sept. 1919, FO 371/4183 p.230ff; Wilson to Sackville-West, 25 Sept. 1919, in Jeffery, no 86.
85. Conclusions of a Meeting of the Heads of the Delegations of the Five Principal Allied and Associated Powers held in M. Clemenceau's Room, 15 Sept. 1919, Paris, FO 371/4182 p.530.
86. Curzon to Balfour, 20 Aug. 1919, Foreign Office, S.W.I., Balfour Papers Add. Ms 49734 pp. 154-60.
87. Col. Meinertzhagen, Cairo, 22 Sept. 1919, no 450, FO 371/4183 p.92; ibid., minute by Kidston, 24 Sept. 1919, pp.90-91.
88. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 24 Sept. 1919, p.91.
89. Ibid. Lawrence to Curzon, 25 Sept. 1919, pp.240-41.
90. Ibid. Also, note 81, Note by Young, 30 Sept. 1919.
91. Ibid. Note by Young.
92. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 3 Oct. 1919, pp.237-9; ibid., minutes by Tilley, 2 Oct. 1919, and Hardinge, n.d., p.237. Tilley was Acting Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office. Hardinge was serving, for the second time, as Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office and was Superintending Ambassador with the Peace Congress Delegation.
93. See note 81 above.
94. See note 89, minute by Curzon, 3 Oct. 1919.
95. Note by Colonel Cornwallis, 3 Oct. 1919, FO 371/4183 pp.361-6.
96. See note 86, Lawrence to Curzon, 25 Sept. 1919.
97. Hirtzel to Montagu, 4 Oct. 1919, Porthminster Hotel, Stives, Cornwall, in S.K. Browne to Campbell, 11 Oct. 1919, India Office, FO 371/4183.
98. Reply to English Memorandum of 13 Sept. 1919, respecting Syria (Communicated by M. Clemenceau, 10 Oct. 1919) secret, FO 371/4184 pp.2-3; ibid., minute by Kidston, 17 Oct. 1919, pp.5-6.
99. Reply to English Memorandum of 13 Sept. 1919, respecting Syria (Communicated by M. Clemenceau, 10 Oct. 1919) secret, FO 371/4184 pp.2-3; ibid., minute by Kidston, 17 Oct. 1919, pp.5-6.
100. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 19 Oct 1919, p. 1.
101. Minute by Curzon, FO 371/4184 p.144.
102. Ibid. Note by Forbes-Adam for Sir Eyre Crowe, 9 Oct. 1919, pp.70-70a.
103. Ibid. Minute by Young, 16 Oct. 1919, p.66.
104. Ibid. Minutes by Tilley, Hardinge and Sperling, 16 Oct. 1919, pp.66-7. Sperling had been involved in the Anglo-French negotiations on the New Hebrides in 1911.
105. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, 17 Oct. 1919, p.68.
106. Ibid. Curzon to Derby, 16 Oct. 1919 (copy), pp. 126-31.
107. Wilson to S/S, 6 April 1919, Political and Secret Department Papers, L/P+S/10/757 B317, secret, Mesopotamia: Future Constitution (OIOC).
108. Hirtzel to Wilson, 17Sept. 1919, India Office, Whitehall, S.W., private, A.T. Wilson Papers Add. Ms 52455c p.27 (British Library). Curzon is on record as having spoken in precisely this sense, but it is ironic that he was subsequently criticized for the creation of an 'Indianized' administration in Mesopotamia. Although Curzon was no pan-Arabist and whilst he sympathized with the 'forward' momentum established by Wilson in Mesopotamia, he certainly did not wish to establish Indian administrative methods there. See undated minute by Curzon, Curzon Papers F112/257.
109. Garbett to Kidston, 7 Oct. 1919, India Office, enclosing memorandum by Garbett, 'Syria and Mesopotamia', FO 371/4183 pp.437-40; ibid., Garbett to Kidston, p.436. Garbett had worked in the Mesopotamian Administration and transferred to the Political and Secret Department at the India Office.
110. Ibid. Minutes by Kidston, 9 Oct. 1919, pp.431-2.
111. Ibid. Minute by Young, 14 Oct. 1919, pp.434-14. Specifically, Young advised the appointment of Arabs to the Vice-Presidency of each of the Provisional and District Councils created by Wilson's constitution of April 1919.
112. Ibid. Minute by Curzon, n.d., p.435.
113. Ibid. See Kedourie, England and the Middle East: The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire, 1914-1921 (Sussex, 1978), p.180.
114. Hirtzel to Montagu, 4 Oct. 1919, Porthminster Hotel, St Ives, Cornwall, in S.K. Browne to Campbell, 11 Oct. 1919, India Office, FO 371/4183.
115. Hirtzel to Wilson, 16 July 1919, India Office, Whitehall, S.W.I., private, A.T. Wilson Papers Add. Ms 52455c (British Library).
116. See note 108 above, minute by Curzon; Note by Sir Arthur Hirtzel, 3 Nov. 1919, L/P+S/10/757/P7050/B335.
117. See note 104 above, Hirtzel to Wilson, 17 Sept. 1919.
118. Ibid. Memorandum by Garbett, 1 Nov. 1919, and Note by Sir Arthur Hirtzel, 3 Nov. 1919, B335.
119. Ibid. Note by Hirtzel.
120. Issued on the capture of Baghdad in March 1917, the Declaration stressed that Britain came not 'as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.' The Declaration, which was initially drafted by Sir Mark Sykes, proceeded to express the hope that the population 'shall flourish, enjoying their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals'. However, the Declaration, whilst concluding with an enigmatic indication of British support for greater Arab unity in the region as a whole, suggested that such conditions might be attained by means of 'collaboration with the political representatives of Great Britain'.
121. Political Baghdad to Retaxandrum, 14 Sept. 1919, London, private for Sir Arthur Hirtzel, A.T. Wilson Papers Add. Ms 52455c pp.24-6 (British Library).
122. Ibid. Hirtzel to Wilson, 17 Sept. 1919, private, India Office.
123. Wilson to his mother, 17 Sept. 1919, Baghdad, A.T. Wilson Papers, Vol.2 (London Library).
124. Unless otherwise stated the remaining material in this section relates to an editorial in The Times, Thursday, 14 Aug. 1919.
125. Buchanan had served as an irrigation adviser in Mesopotamia under Government of India auspices in the first years of the war and was a distinguished expert in this field.
126. The Times, 23/26 Sept. 1919 (the phrase was Churchill's); the other two articles appeared on 24/25 Sept.
127. Ibid. The Times, 23 Sept. 1919.
128. A.T. Wilson to Stephenson, 15 Sept. 1919, Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad? [sic], no 28106, A. T. Wilson Papers Add. Mss 52456a pp.3-5 (British Library). Referring to several articles in The Times by A.W. Moore (possibly including that of 14 Sept. 1919) ,Wilson confessed that they were inspired by him, that they would astonish the India Office, that they were intended to put pressure on the public, but that 'they may very well be the end of me.' Though admirable in other respects, Sluglett's defence of Wilson, his analysis of Wilson's character and of his relationship with his superiors, fails to take account of Wilson's wilful insubordination and deviousness. See Peter Sluglett, Britain In Iraq, 1914-32 (London, 1976), pp.24-7.
129. A.T. Wilson to Stephenson, 15 Sept. 1919, Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad? [sic], no 28106, A. T. Wilson Papers Add. Mss 52456a pp.3-5 (British Library). Referring to several articles in The Times by A.W. Moore (possibly including that of 14 Sept. 1919) ,Wilson confessed that they were inspired by him, that they would astonish the India Office, that they were intended to put pressure on the public, but that 'they may very well be the end of me.' Though admirable in other respects, Sluglett's defence of Wilson, his analysis of Wilson's character and of his relationship with his superiors, fails to take account of Wilson's wilful insubordination and deviousness. See Peter Sluglett, Britain In Iraq, 1914-32 (London, 1976), pp.24-7.
130. Storrs, however, like most who encountered Wilson, was undoubtedly impressed by the latter, observing that Wilson was 'young, good looking, able, intelligent and intensely ambitious'. Storrs Diary 115 folio 33 (Pembroke College, Cambridge). Storrs was Acting Oriental Secretary at the Agency in Cairo from 1909 and was on special service in Jerusalem, ostensibly as Military Governor, from Nov. 1917. Lord Robert Cecil, writing in his diary after dining with Wilson, observed: 'Wilson is a man of great ability. He thinks clearly and knows what he wants. Not in all respects attractive. He is rather too self-centred for that.' Entry of 27 March 1919, Chelwood Diaries Add. Ms 51131 (British Library).
131. In his summer term report at Mostyn House School, Parkgate, Cheshire, in 1898 (initialled A.G.G.), it was stated of Wilson, 'He has fought his faults bravely - and the worst of them are rather, perhaps, exaggerated virtues.' A.T. Wilson Papers (London Library).
132. Wilson to Stephenson, 15 July 1919, Office of the Civil Commissioner, A.T. Wilson Papers Add. Ms 52456a p.2 (British Library). Cowans aspired to replace Sir Percy Cox as Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia. He served as Quarter-Master General and, on retirement from military service in the spring of 1919, was employed by Shell Transport Company, on whose behalf he visited Mesopotamia; Hewitt, a career army officer, had been sent to Mesopotamia by the War Office in the autumn of 1918 to report on Army expenditure. The India Office had been greatly alarmed by the proposal partly because of ambiguity about the scope of the Mission. Those fears were exacerbated by rumours that Hewitt was to succeed Sir Percy Cox and by Hewitt's behaviour in the course of his mission.
133. Wilson to his father, 29 Sept. 1919, Baghdad, A.T. Wilson Papers, Vol.2 (London Library).
134. Wilson to Stephenson, 7 Feb. 1920, Wilson Papers Add Ms. 52456a (British Library).
135. Ibid. Wilson to Stephenson, 7 Feb. 1920.
136. Wilson to his mother, 16 Nov. 1919, A.T. Wilson Papers, Vol.2, p.76 (London Library).
137. Ibid. Wilson to his mother, 14 Dec. 1919, p.78.