Final version. 16.9.05

Hejaz: The First Postage Stamps of 1916 and T E Lawrence.

David R Beech FRPSL

Hejaz, more correctly spelt Hijaz, is a region in the Arabian Peninsular that includes both the Red Sea littoral and the holy Islamic cities of and Medina. It had been part of the Turkish since 1517. In 1845 the Ottomans strengthened their influence by taking greater control from the local chiefs. To consolidate the position further, and to facilitate the journey for pilgrims, a railway, known as the Hijaz Railway, was built between 1900 and 1908 from Damascus to Medina.

On 5th November 1914 Great Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire which had joined the First World War on the same side as Germany. Arab Revolt against the Turks would benefit British interests and a secret agreement of 23rd October 1914 for support was made with the Sherif of Mecca in Hijaz. On 7th June 1916 Hijaz proclaimed independence, on 10th June its forces occupied Mecca, and on 27th June Hijaz declared war on Turkey. Also on 27th June Husayn [or Hussein as quoted below] ibn ‘, Grand Emir and Sherif of Mecca (c1854-1931), who had been appointed to his office by the Turks in 1908, further declared independence of Ottoman rule and on 29th October was proclaimed King of the Hijaz.

Into the story enters T E Lawrence, “Lawrence of Arabia” (1888-1935) in the company of Ronald (later Sir Ronald) Storrs (1881-1955), Oriental Secretary at the Arab Bureau and later High Commission, in Cairo. Lawrence was a junior intelligence officer at British Military Headquarters in Cairo, where as part of his duties he was responsible for the printing of military maps at the Survey of . In Storrs’s memoirs (Orientations 1937) he says:

“Shortly after the Arab Revolution we found that its success was being denied or blanketed by Enemy Press (which was of course quoted by neutrals), and we decided that the best proof that it had taken place would be provided by an issue of Hajaz postage stamps, which would carry the Arab propaganda, self-paying and incontrovertible, to the four corners of the earth. Sir Henry MacMahon [(1862-1949) High Commissioner Egypt 1914-1916] was quick to approve; and the Foreign Office approved him. I had corresponded with King Hussein on the project, and he sent me by return of mail a design purporting to typify Islamic architecture, but to the layman indistinguishable from the Eddystone Lighthouse. I felt that this would never do, and wandered with Lawrence round the Arab Museum in Cairo collecting suitable motifs in order that the design in wording, spirit and ornament, might be as far as possible representative and reminiscent of a purely Arab source of inspiration. Pictures and views were avoided, for these never formed part of Arab decoration, and are foreign to its art: so also was European lettering. It was quickly apparent that Lawrence already possessed or had immediately assimilated a complete working technique of philatelic and three-colour reproduction, so that he was able to supervise the issue from start to finish.”

As a rule, one of the first actions of any newly-formed nation is to issue postage stamps. Not only does this serve the needs of the postal service and the people of the new country, but also it sends a clear message to the outside world. In declaring independence the opportunity had been taken to outlaw all of the Turkish stamps, and until the Hijaz stamps were available “FEE PAID” marks were introduced. These first stamps had been designed and printed by typography at the Survey of Egypt, established in 1898, in Cairo under its Director-General Mr (later Sir) Ernest M Dawson who held the post from 1909 to 1919. It is interesting to note that the Survey had not previously produced postage stamps but went on to print the stamps for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (mainly used in Palestine) from 1918, issues for Egypt both postal and revenue as well as currency notes etc, for , Jordan and Greek Consular Service stamps. Egypt had become a British Protectorate in 1914 (to 1922) following the outbreak of war with Turkey. The Royal Philatelic Collection contains the unique drawing made by Sherif Husayn for the issue of postage stamps mentioned in Sir Ronald’s memoirs, as quoted above, with a note which says:

“Design by Sherif of Mecca for Hijaz Postage 1 P.T stamp. Enc. in letter from him to his Agent, Elias Bey Dibbane, July 1916, and by latter handed to me for opinion Aug. 3 1916. In view of provisional issue already prepared by Eg[ypt]. Survey Dept. decided to await further instructions from H H. before proceeding further with this design.

RS 3. AU.[?] 16. H E shown and informed”

According to a further note, made by Sir Ronald on 12th October 1926 at Buckingham Palace:

“The design was drawn by the then Sherif (now ex-king) with his own hand, the English lettering filled in by a clerk. It was never adopted.”

The building in the design by the Sherif, said by Storrs to be “indistinguishable from the Eddystone Lighthouse”, was of a mosque on Jabal Abu Qubays, a hill overlooking, Mecca. When the stamps, as eventually issued, were seen by the Sherif in late August or early September they were rejected as the mosque was not featured nor was the lettering “The Government of the Sherifate of Holy Mecca and its Dominions”. The Sherif of Mecca had designs on becoming the ruler of the former Ottoman Empire in Arabia after the war and this wording reflected that ambition.

In practical terms it was too late to reject the printed stamps and the “Lawrence” designs were issued in October 1916 (probably with the season in mind, 29th September to 28th October) in ¼ piaster green, ½ piastre scarlet and 1 piastre values the last being in blue. Agumi Effendi Ali designed the lower two values and Mustafa Effendi Ghozlan the 1 piastre. All three are inscribed in script Makkat al-Mukarrama (“Holy, or Honourable, Mecca”) and “Barid Hijazi” (“Hijaz Post”) and the face value, together with the Islamic date 1334. Aspects of the design are taken or adapted from the carved panels on the principal door of the al-Salih Talayi Mosque in Cairo (quarter piastre), the last page of a Holy Koran in the 14th century Mosque of Sultan Barquq, Cairo (half piastre), and from an ancient prayer niche in the Mosque of al-Amri at Qus in Upper Egypt (1 piastre). Subsequent issues of stamps printed by the Survey of Egypt appeared in 1916-17 and 1917 with a set of postage due stamps in 1917 all of these were designed by Agami Effendi Ali in a not dissimilar design.

The Sherif of Mecca’s design is illustrated in the Survey of Egypt’s A Short Note on the Design and Issue of Postage Stamps Prepared by the Survey of Egypt for His Highness Husein Emir Sherif of Mecca & King of the Hejaz, published in 1918. This appears as figure 84 with three other pictorial designs of the Survey’s as figures 85 to 87. One of these is clearly based on the Sherif’s design - indeed he supplied a photograph of Jabal Abu Qubays Mosque. The three were intended for higher values should these be required.

King George V naturally wanted the issued stamps for the Royal Philatelic Collection, and some trouble was taken in Cairo to put together as complete a collection with the various printings and types of perforations and roulettes etc. These were all ready for dispatch to London when a serious setback occurred. In the words of Laurence Grafftey- Smith in his Bright Levant (1970):

“Then the whisper of a case of smallpox in the Survey Office, where the stamps had been printed, cast a diplomatic secretary in the role of an unwilling regicide. He assumed, hardly plausibly, that the Royal tongue would moisten the mucilage of some 400 stamps, for attachment to the royal album. He boiled the whole batch in a saucepan to sterilise it, thereby removing the last trace of gum, and we had to start all over again.”

Captain Lawrence mentioned the subject of stamp adhesives in letters written to his brothers. In one dated 22nd July, 1916 he says “Arnie [Arnold W Lawrence (1900-1991)] will be glad to hear I am printing stamps for the Sherif of Mecca…It’s rather amusing, because one has long had ideas as to what a stamp should look like, and now one can put them roughly into practice…I’m going to have flavoured gum on the back, so that one can lick without unpleasantness.” In Lawrence’s later RAF days he told Flight Lieutenant R G Sims: “In our issues we flavoured the gum on the red ones with strawberry essence and the green ones with pineapple juice. The Arabs liked the taste so much they sucked it all away…” Again in a letter to his brother dated 16th September, 1916 he reports “I enclose a stamp or two…They may be valuable some day, for I am not printing many, and have taken steps to prevent any dealers purchasing them in bulk. You have no idea what an enormous and profitable affair the stamp trade is.”

T E Lawrence first entered Hijaz on 16th October 1916 accompanying , who says in his memoirs:

“In October I made my third decent to the Hejaz…it was through-and quickly after-this voyage, that Lawrence of Carchemish, of Cario-of any place for a little while-became permanently Lawrence of Arabia. His enduring world-fame makes it difficult to replace him now in his original perspective, and I must confess, almost with shame, that my sentiments in applying for him were mainly gratitude for his assistance in the Hejaz stamp issue…”

Perhaps without this philatelic connection Lawrence might never have become “Lawrence of Arabia”. For it was on this, his first visit to the Hijaz, that he met one of the sons of King Husayn of Hijaz, Emir Faysal (1885-1933) who was to become successively Commander of the Northern Army in the Arab Revolt 1916-1918, King of Syria from 1918 until 1920 when he was deposed by the French, and finally King of Iraq 1921-1933. On his return to Egypt Lawrence was appointed liaison offer with the Arab Army.

In November 1918 the Survey of Egypt published A Short Note on the Design and Issue of Postage Stamps (see above) which is one of the most attractive items of philatelic literature. Apart from describing the general background of the issues and the details of the designs and production, it includes nine of the stamps and twelve coloured plates of essays. Two hundred numbered copies were printed and presented to those involved, together with copies for museums and libraries. A further one hundred copies were for sale at five Egyptian pounds, and these soon sold out.

The independent Kingdom of Hijaz was not to last for long. In Arabia ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al Sa’ud (Ibn Sa’ud) of Najd (1880-1953) extended his domains, ultimately capturing most of the Hijaz. In October, 1924 King Husayn abdicated in favour of his eldest son ‘Ali ibn Husayn (1879-1935), who held out in the port of Jeddah for about a year but was forced to surrender and abdicate in December, 1925. Following a period of stability, certain of the Hijaz notables requested Ibn Sa‘ud to become King in January, 1926. In 1932 the Kingdom of Hijaz and the Sultanate of Najd were united as the Kingdom of .

I should like to thank Dr Isa Waley, Curator of Persian and Turkish Collections at the British Library for checking aspects of the manuscript.

References

“Issues of Stamps for Mecca (Hejaz)”, The London Philatelist vol. 25, September 1916, pp180-181.

“The New Issue of the Sherif of Mecca (Hejaz)”, The London Philatelist, vol. 26 January 1917, pp 2-3.

“A Further Issue of the Sherif of Mecca (Hejaz)”, The London Philatelist, vol. 26 March, 1917, pp 58-59.

Alireza, Tarik and Graham, David A, “False Impressions: a survey of errors, misconceptions, myths and dubious reporting in the postal history of Saudi Arabia”, Gibbons Stamp Monthly, vol. 20 no. 11 April 1990, pp 84, 85, 87, vol. 21 no. 1 June 1990, pp 28, 29, 84, 85, vol. 21 no. 4. September 1990, pp 49-51.

Baker, Dr Randall, “Hejaz Stamps and Lawrence of Arabia”, Stamp Collecting, vol. 124 6 March 1975, pp 75-77.

Courtney, Nicholas, The Queen’s Stamps; the authorised history of the Royal Philatelic Collection, London: Methuen, 2004.

Grafftey-Smith, L, Bright Levant, London: Murray, 1970.

Lawrence, M R (editor), The Home Letters of T E Lawrence and his Brothers, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954.

Murray, G W, (editor), The Survey of Egypt 1898-1948, (English edition), Cairo: Ministry of Finance, 1950.

Ramage, James P., “T E Lawrence and the Postage Stamps for the Hejaz”, Journal of the T.E.Lawrence Society, vol. 6, Autumn 1996, pp 6-13.

Sims, Wing Commander R G, The Sayings & Doings of T E Lawrence, Wakefield: Fleece Press, 1994.

Storrs, Ronald, Orientations, London: Ivor Nicholdson & Watson, 1937.

Survey of Egypt, A Short Note on the Design and Issue of Postage Stamps Prepared by the Survey of Egypt for His Highness Husein Emir & Sherif of Mecca & King of the Hejaz, Cairo: Survey of Egypt, 1918.

Illustrations.

Hejaz: 1916 (October) ¼pi, ½pi, 1pi. The Wilson-Todd Collection, the British Library.

Sherif Husayn’s essay and note by Ronald Storrs, in the Royal Philatelic Collection. Reproduced by gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen, to whom copyright belongs.

Sherif Husayn and Ronald Storrs, taken by the Staff Surgeon of H M S Dufferin at Jeddah on 12th December, 1916. An illustration taken from Storrs Orientations. Reproduced by permission of The Trustees of Imperial War Museum, London. Photograph Q59888.

Lawrence of Arabia: the life, the legend an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London is to take place between 14th October, 2005 to 17th April, 2006. For further details see: www.iwm.org.uk

First published in The London Philatelist [the journal of The Royal Philatelic Society London] volume 114, pp 323-327, November, 2005. ISSN 0024-6131