Ronald Storrs

1881 - 1955

British colonial official.

After studying classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Ronald Storrs served as Lord Horatio Kitchener's Oriental secretary in Egypt prior to and during World War I. In this capacity, he met with Amir Abdullah ibn Hussein in April 1914, one of the Hashimites' early attempts to determine Britain's attitude toward their ambitions. Storrs later played an important role in the Anglo - Hashimite dialogue and the Arab Revolt, traveling from Egypt to the Hijaz on several occasions in 1916, including a journey with T. E. Lawrence, to cement Britain's relationship with the Hashimites.

In December 1917, Storrs was appointed the first military governor of Jerusalem after Allied troops entered the city. He believed that the role of Britain's military government in Palestine was simply to administer the country, not to introduce fundamental social or political changes. Britain, however, had pledged to support Zionist settlements in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration. In April 1918, Storrs formally received the Zionist commission, headed by Chaim Weizmann, which had traveled to Jerusalem to begin making arrangements for implementing the Balfour Declaration. He felt that the commission's dismay at the negative attitude displayed toward it and Zionism in general betrayed a fundamental naïveté about the Palestinians and their understanding of Zionism.

Palestinian nationalist frustrations were manifested in the Nabi Musa disturbances (April 1920). As governor of Jerusalem, Storrs subsequently dismissed the mayor of Jerusalem, Musa Kazim alHusayni, for his role in the affair. Husayni went on to become the senior Palestinian nationalist figure in the 1920s, as head of the Arab Executive.

Storrs took an interest in cultural preservation in Jerusalem, forming the Pro-Jerusalem Society to restore historic monuments in the city. He arranged for Armenian artisans to produce tiles for the Islamic shrines at the Haram al-Sharif as part of these efforts.

Following the introduction of civil rule in Palestine in the mid-1920s, Storrs was Jerusalem's first civilian governor. After leaving service in Palestine, he became governor of Cyprus in 1926 and of Northern Rhodesia in 1932. He retired from colonial service in 1934.

Bibliography

Storrs, Ronald. Orientations: The Memories of Sir Ronald Storrs. London: Nicholson and Watson, 1943.

Wasserstein, Bernard. The British in Palestine, 2d edition. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: B. Blackwell, 1991.

— MICHAEL R. FISCHBACH