Ronald Storrs

Biography

Ronald Storrs was the eldest son of John Storrs, priest of the Church of England and later Dean of Rochester. His mother was Lucy Anna Maria Cockayne-Cust, sister of the fifth Baron Brownlow.

Storrs was educated at Charterhouse School and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he gained a first-class degree in the Classical Tripos.

In 1919, Storrs was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy.{{London Gazette

Foreign service

Egypt

Storrs entered the Finance Ministry of the Egyptian Government in 1904, five years later becoming Oriental Secretary to the British Agency, succeeding Harry Boyle in this post. In 1917, Storrs became Political Officer representing the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia as Liaison officer for the Anglo-French mission in Baghdad and Mesopotamia where he met Gertrude Bell and Sir Percy Cox.

T. E. Lawrence commented in Seven Pillars of Wisdom:

Storrs is credited with a classic example of British understatement when referring to the behaviour of the British toward the many tribal and regional leaders that the British were trying to influence in "The Great Game": "we deprecated the imperative, preferring instead the subjunctive or even, wistfully, the optative mood".

During the First World War Storrs was a member of the Arab Bureau and a participant in the negotiations between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British government, and in the organisation of the Arab Revolt. His own personal positions were that the Sharif Husayn was asking for more Arab territory than he had any right to, and that Syria and Palestine should be incorporated into a British-sponsored Egyptian empire as a replacement for the Ottoman Empire, a plan which was never implemented. Storrs is thought to have underestimated Arab Muslim resistance to non-Muslim rule.

Palestine

In 1917, Storrs became Military Governor of Jerusalem, within the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, for which purpose he was given the British Army rank of colonel.{{London Gazette

The 1920 Nebi Musa riots occurred during his military governorship, and the following year he became Civil Governor of Jerusalem and Judea. In both positions he attempted to support Zionism while protecting the rights of the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and thus earned the hostility of both sides. Recent research by Moya Tönnies argues that, within his scope of action, he in fact acted against political Zionism. He devoted much of his time to cultural matters, including town planning, and to the Pro-Jerusalem Society, a cultural organisation that he founded. Storrs acted as President of the Society. His aesthetic interventions have been analysed as politically motivated pro-Arab "Colonial Diplomacy through Art."

In 1918, Storrs created the position of Grand Mufti of Jerusalem as the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including Al-Aqsa.{{cite web |access-date=2007-09-13}} Kamil al-Husayni was the first to hold the position.

Palestine's first chess club was the International Chess Club founded in Jerusalem in 1918 by Storrs. The International Chess Club was an expression of the hope that it would unite the different nations – local Arabs and Jews, and European Christians of various nations who were then stationed in the city – and help promote peace and understanding. The club closed within a year due to the increasing tensions between the Arabs and Jews. A chess enthusiast, Storrs also helped to organise in 1919 the city's first championship which was won by Shaul Gordon, the founder of Mercantile Bank.

In Jerusalem, Storrs co-published a book dedicated to his uncle Harry Cust in 1918. He arranged for its printing by at the Stamperia Francescana in the Old City.

Cyprus and Rhodesia

From 1926 to 1932, Storrs was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Cyprus. During his tenure, there was an attempted revolt (1931) during which Government House was burned to the ground.

Storrs was then appointed as Governor of Northern Rhodesia in 1932. He retired for health reasons in 1934, at the age of 53.

Later years

Storrs was one of the six pallbearers at the funeral of T.E. Lawrence in 1935. In 1937, he published his memoirs Orientations. Between 1937 and 1945 he served on the London County Council, and during the Second World War he broadcast for the Ministry of Information. He died in 1955, aged 73, and is buried at St John the Baptist Church, Pebmarsh, Essex.

Published books

• (limited edition of 128 copies)
• Storrs, Ronald, Dunlop in War and Peace (Hutchinson & Co., 1946) – an account of the Dunlop Company and its importance during the Second World War.

References

Sources

• Tönnies, Moya. Colonial Diplomacy through Art. Jerusalem 1918–1926. Leiden: Brill, 2024.

References

1. Ritchie Ovendale, 'Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst (1881–1955)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2. [[Michael Korda]], ''Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia'' {{ISBN. 978-0-06-171261-6, p. 353
3. The handbook of Palestine; edited by Harry Charles Luke and Edward Keith-Roach. With an introd. by Herbert Samuel, p.22
4. Xypolia, Ilia. (2011). "Orientations and Orientalism: The Governor Sir Ronald Storrs".
5. Moya Tönnies. ''Colonial Diplomacy through Art. Jerusalem 1918–1926''. Leiden: Brill, 2024.
6. Rapaport, Raquel. (2007). "The City of the Great Singer: C. R. Ashbee's Jerusalem". Cambridge University Press.
7. See [[Islamic Leadership in Jerusalem]] for further details
8. Taysīr Jabārah. (1985). "Palestinian Leader Hajj Amin Al-Husayni: Mufti of Jerusalem". Kingston Press.
9. (28 January 2015). "Chess in Jerusalem: A journey through time". Chessbase/Yochanan Afek.
10. (28 January 1934). "News". The Sunday Times.
11. Storrs, Ronald. (1937). "The Memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs". G.P. Putnam's Sons.