John Philby and His Political Roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953
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John Philby and his political roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953 by Khalid Abdullah Krairi A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham October 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. DEDICATION To the soul of my father ii ABSTRACT This thesis departs from the traditional historiographical views that portray Philby as having no political influence either while he was serving his country or after his resignation from government service when he was settled in Saudi Arabia. It also departs from picturing him as a man who tended to undermine British policy, arguing that he was loyal to his country, as was plain during his years of service. The thesis examines his background, from his early years to the work he did for his country in India, Iraq and Transjordan and takes an analytical and historical approach. It seeks to present a more comprehensive understanding of Philby’s mission to Arabia, its objectives and outcomes, focusing on his political work in Arabia and his efforts to solve problems which otherwise might have threatened British interests. In the second part of his mission to Arabia, three considerable issues are addressed: first, that of the Ajman tribe which revolted against Ibn Sa‘ūd and Philby’s efforts to resolve their dispute and not let the tribe be diverted from the common cause; second, the blockade, directed successfully by Philby, which greatly influenced the war against the Ottoman empire; and third, the invasion of Ḥail – why Philby regarded this objective as crucial for making peace between Ibn Sa‘ūd and Hussain and saw how far it would contribute to British interests in the region. This thesis deals with Philby’s efforts in the conflict between Najd and Hejaz and his actions in the border dispute between Ibn Sa‘ūd and his rival, Hussain, and assesses whether Philby played a major part in the collapse of the Hejazi kingdom. It considers Philby’s contribution to the American iii recognition of Saudi Arabia and the methods that he used to secure it. It examines Philby’s method of settling political conditions in Arabia after the Idrisi revolt against Ibn Sa‘ud. It asks why Philby visited Yemen and if it would somehow have enhanced Ibn Sa‘ūd’s position. It also focuses on Philby’s role in the Buraimi crisis between Britain and Saudi Arabia and illustrates the persuasive arguments by which Philby upheld the Saudi opposition to Britain’s demands over Buraimi. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of people have supported and encouraged me during my study as a postgraduate student. To begin, I would like to express my deep gratitude to King Abdul Aziz University for its financial grant which enabled me to complete my postgraduate studies abroad. Among its academic staff, I should mention Dr. ‘Umar al- Ymani, Dr. Ḍawi al-Sulami and Abdulrahman al- ‘Urabi, the former Heads of the History Department, and Dr. Zin al- Hazimi, the current Head, Professor Mohammed al- Ghamidi, Dr. Osamah Justaniah, the former Deans of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and Dr. ‘atif Nasif, the current Vice Dean whose kind assistance facilitated the procedure of my scholarship and enabled me to take it up. Without a doubt, I was lucky to have Dr. Steve Morewood as my main supervisor. The thesis would not have been completed without his invaluable support, encouragement, and constructive comments and feedback during its various steps, although any inaccuracies of fact or interpretation are certainly my own. I should also thank him for his patience and understanding the seriousness of my health condition throughout the writing of the thesis. My grateful thanks go also to Dr. Simon Jackson, my second supervisor, who spent time reading the whole draft of the thesis and provided me with excellent comments and feedback. I would like to put on record my deep appreciation to Ms. Debbie Usher, the archivist at the Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, Oxford University, for her v amazing help in gettingaccess to and copying the mass of documents relating to the work; most of it comes from the Philby collection. In addition, I would like to thank all the archive staff at The National Archives, Kew, who gave me access to commercial documents -more than sixty files relating to the history of the Arabian Peninsula. Furthermore, I would like to thank all the staff of the British Library, London, who gave me open access to the source of the India Office Records and send them my great appreciation of their incredible patience in supplying me with the enormous files of documents. Moreover, for their kind assistance, I should like to thank all the staff at Archives and Special Collections in Durham University Library. At Birmingham University; the main library, Cadbury Research Library and the Orchard Learning Resource Centre proved invaluable. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Fahd al- Semari, the Head of the King Abdul Aziz Foundation and Research, for the arrangements he made for my comfort and the welcoming environment that he provided me when I wanted to look at all the sources of the Arabic documents and books during my scientific trip and research visit to Saudi Arabia. I should also like to thank Dr. Abdul Aziz al- Shebl, who supervised me while I was doing my Master’s degree in Saudi Arabia, and Dr. Abdullah al-Rabi‘ie for their encouragement of my choice of Philby as the topic for my doctoral thesis. I owe a great deal to some members of Philby’s family. Most important were Michael Engelbach, the son of Helena, Philby’s youngest daughter, who furnished me with some vi important information and unpublished pamphlets, written by his grandfather; Faris, the son of Philby; and Faiṣal, Faris’s son, who supplied so much valuable information about Philby. Throughout the drafting and editing process, all the chapters of this thesis were read by Dr. Eve Richards, who was very generous with her comments and feedback. Lastly, I’m grateful to my mother and wife for their immeasurable support and for their patience during the production of this thesis; without them none of this would have been done. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication _____________________________________________________________ ii Abstract ______________________________________________________________ iii Acknowledgements _____________________________________________________ v List of illustrations _____________________________________________________ xii List of tables _________________________________________________________ xiii Transliteration note ___________________________________________________ xiv List of abbreviations ___________________________________________________ xvi Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 1 The importance of the thesis __________________________________________________ 1 Definition and aim of the topic ________________________________________________ 2 The research questions ______________________________________________________ 4 Research methods __________________________________________________________ 5 Archival sources ____________________________________________________________ 5 Historiography on the British involvement in the Middle East ________________________ 7 Historiography on Philby ____________________________________________________ 16 Organization ______________________________________________________________ 33 Chapter One The making of Philby: Seminal influences on the formation of his character 1885-1915 _______________________________________________ 35 The Philby family and its roots ________________________________________________ 36 Birth and childhood ________________________________________________________ 43 Westminster ______________________________________________________________ 53 Trinity College, Cambridge ___________________________________________________ 64 Civil servant in India: 1908-1915 ______________________________________________ 71 Jhelum __________________________________________________________________ 72 Rawalpindi _______________________________________________________________ 75 Sargodha ________________________________________________________________ 81 viii Multan __________________________________________________________________ 82 Ambala __________________________________________________________________ 83 Amritsar _________________________________________________________________ 86 Lyallpur __________________________________________________________________ 87 Simla ____________________________________________________________________ 88 Overview ________________________________________________________________ 90 Chapter Two The beginnings of Philby’s activities and influence in the Middle East ___________________________________________________________ 95 Iraq: 1915-1921 ___________________________________________________________ 96 Chief civilian at Basra _______________________________________________________