Henry McMahon

For other people named Henry McMahon, seeHenry McMahon (disambiguation).

Lieutenant ColonelSir Henry McMahon GCMGGCVOKCIECSIKStJ
Painting of Henry McMahon byJohn Collier,c. 1915
Personal details
Born	28 November 1862 Simla,Punjab Province,British India
Died	29 December 1949(1949-12-30)(aged 87) London,United Kingdom
Occupation	Diplomat,commissioner
Known for	McMahon-Hussein Correspondence,theMcMahon Line,Declaration to the Seven

Sir Vincent Arthur Henry McMahonGCMGGCVOKCIECSIKStJ(28 November 1862 – 29 December 1949) was aBritish Indian Armyofficer and diplomat who served as the Foreign Secretary in theGovernment of Indiafrom 1911 to 1915 and as theHigh CommissionerinEgyptfrom 1915 to 1917.As the Foreign Secretary McMahon conducted the tripartite negotiations between Tibet, China and Britain that led to theSimla Convention.Even though China did not in the end sign the Convention, the agreement governed the British relations with Tibet till 1947. In Egypt, McMahon was best known for theMcMahon-Hussein CorrespondencewithHussein bin Ali,Sharif of Mecca,and theDeclaration to the Sevenin response to a memorandum written by seven notable Syrians. After theSykes-Picot Agreementwas published by theBolshevikRussian government in November 1917, McMahon resigned.He also features prominently inSeven Pillars of Wisdom,T.E. Lawrence'saccount of theArab Revoltagainst theOttoman EmpireduringWorld War I.

Early life

McMahon was the son ofLieutenant-GeneralCharles Alexander McMahon,FRS,FGS(1830–1904), ageologistand Commissioner of bothLahoreandHisarinPunjab,India,and who, like his father,CaptainAlexander McMahon (born 1791,Kilrea,County Londonderry,Ireland), had been an officer with theEast India Company.

He was educated in England atHaileybury College,the recently-founded successor of theEast India Company College.When he joined the school, his father had an address inExeter.He then proceeded to theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst.

Family background

The OrielMcMahonsare theGaelicclanofMac Mathghamhnawho had come originally from the medieval Irish kingdom ofOrielin SouthUlster,where they reigned from around 1250 until about 1600.

Henry McMahon's own family had settled in theDownpatrickarea ofCounty Downbefore his great-grandfather, Arthur McMahon, moved to Kilrea, where he wasministerof the localPresbyteriancongregation between 1789 and 1794: a prominentIrish Republican,Arthur McMahon was a member of the National Directory of theSociety of United Irishmenand one of theircolonelsinUlsterduring theIrish Rebellion of 1798.He apparently fought at the battles ofSaintfieldandBallynahinch.Following the rebels' overall defeat, he was able to flee toFrance,where he served withNapoleon’sIrish Legion.It has been reported that he was captured by the British during theWalcheren Campaignof 1809 and sent to England, but was later able to return to France where, in June 1815, he eventually died fighting at eitherLignyorWaterloo.

Career

British India

McMahon was commissioned as alieutenantinto theKing's (Liverpool) Regimenton 10 March 1883.He transferred to theIndian Staff Corpsin 1885, joining the 1st Sikh Infantry in thePunjab Frontier Force.

In 1887, McMahon joined the Punjab Commission (civil service). He transferred to theIndian Political Departmentin 1890, serving in it till 1915. His various positions included North-West Frontier, Zhob and Thal-Chotiali agencies inBalochistan,Gilgit,Dir–Swat–Chitraland finally as the Agent to the Governor-General for Balochistan (a position that combined the Chief Commissioner forBritish Baluchistanand Political Resident for theBaluchistan Agency).During these years he was promoted tocaptainon 10 March 1894, andmajoron 10 July 1901.He received the temporary rank ofcolonelwhile employed on special duty on theSistanfrontier in 1903.

McMahon spokePersian,Afghani,andHindustani,and his aptitude for languages led him also to learnArabic.

In 1911, the ViceroyLord Hardingeappointed McMahon as the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. He held this position till 1915. During 1913–1914, McMahon was responsible for holding the tripartite conference to negotiate theSimla Conventionbetween Tibet, China and Britain, and acting as Britain's plenipoteniary. Though the conference failed to produce a signed convention between all three parties, Tibet and Britain did agree the draft convention, which governed their mutual relations till the end of British rule in India. Tibet and Britain also agreed their mutual border in the northeast India, which bears the nameMcMahon Line.

Middle East

In 1915, McMahon was sent to replace SirMilne Cheetham,briefly acting forLord Kitchener,who had becomeWar Secretaryin London, in the post ofHigh Commissionerin theSultanate of Egypt.When he arrived by train,Ronald Storrs,a member of theArab Bureau,described him as "quiet, friendly, agreeable, considerate and cautious",although later in his career Storrs and others were not so charitable. McMahon was made aKnight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem(KStJ).

Although a temporary appointment, it became a permanent post, for an experienced political administrator. With the approval of Kitchener and Foreign SecretarySir Edward Grey,McMahon began a long correspondence withHusayn bin Ali,Sharif of Mecca,the Ottoman-appointed ruler of the Hijaz, to use the Bedouin tribes under his control to support theEgyptian Expeditionary Forcein overthrowing the Ottomans. He promised Husayn an independent area under Arab governance that was to include what was then theMutasarrifate of Jerusalem(laterMandatory Palestine), in exchange for Arab support in Britain's conflict against theOttoman Turksin what came to be known as theGreat Arab Revoltagainst the Ottomans. Their correspondence is known to historians from theMcMahon–Hussein Correspondence.

Sir Gilbert Clayton,Aubrey Herbert,Storrs and others of the intelligence community approved of McMahon's pro-Arabist policy from 1916 onwards. McMahon sat on the plan to use the Sharif to support British for six months. But it wasSir Reginald Wingatewho persuaded McMahon that the Arabs were ready, able and willing for Cairo to support Husayn in an effort to overthrow the Ottomans and establish a pan-Arab state made up of Ottoman Arab lands in the Middle East. Storrs thought the diplomacy was "in every way exaggerated."He was appointed aKnight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George(GCMG) in 1916 upon his retirement from theBritish Indian Army.

By May 1916, Turkish troops had arrived in Mecca, and McMahon received a telegram fromAbdullah ibn Husayn,Sharif Husayn's son, that the Movement was ready. McMahon despatched the oriental secretary, Storrs, to London with a team of intelligence experts. The British decision to land an invasion force in the Dardanelles, instead of Alexandretta, and to promise the French Syria under theSykes-Picot Agreement,irritated McMahon.

On 23 November 1917, following theOctober Revolution,theBolsheviksreleased copies the Sykes–Picot Agreement and other secret treaties, publishing full texts inIzvestiaandPravda.The Manchester Guardianthen printed the texts on 26 November 1917.This caused great embarrassment to the Allies and growing distrust between them and the Arabs, and McMahon resigned his post in protest.

Honours in retirement

In 1920, McMahon was awarded theOrder of El Nahda,1st Class, by Husayn, the newKing of the Hejaz.In 1925, he was promoted to aKnight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem(KStJ).

McMahon was one of the founders of theImperial CollegeMasonic Lodgein 1923,at which time he was also a member of the governing body of Imperial College.

Personal life

On 19 October 1886, inBombay,McMahon married Mary E. Bland, a daughter of F. C. Bland of Derriquin Castle,County Kerry.Their daughter Jessica was born in 1887. In 1909, at the church ofSt George's, Hanover Square,London, she married Henry A. Hetherington, of Berechurch Hall,Colchester.

McMahon and his wife retired to England. McMahon died on 29 December 1949 at the Cadogan Hotel inSloane Street,Chelsea,where he had been living. He was survived by his wife.He left an estate valued at £26,918, probate for which was granted to Jessica Merriell Hetherington andLord Courtauld-Thomson.McMahon was buried in theGolders Green Cemetery.

Arms

Coat of arms of Henry McMahon

Notes Granted 10 April 1924 bySir Nevile Rodwell Wilkinson,Ulster King of Arms. Crest On a wreath of the colours a bear rampant Sable holding an antique crown Or. Escutcheon Per pale Or and Gules an ostrich counterchanged holding in the beak a horseshoe Proper on a canton of the second a bear rampant Sable. Motto Deum Timens Solum

Taxa named in his honour

• Aspeciesof Asian viper,Eristicophis macmahoni,is named in honour of Henry McMahon.
• Eirenis mcmahoni,also named in his honour, is considered a synonym ofEirenis persicus.
• The Pakistani fishLabeo macmahoniis potentially named in his honour.

References

Bibliography

Books

• McSkimin, Samuel (1906).The Annals of Ulster from 1790 to 1798.
• Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2011).The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles.Vol. xiii. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 2967 pp.ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5.
• Kernohan, W. (1912).The Parishes of Kilrea and Tamlaght O'Crilly.
• Schneers, Jonathon (2010).The Balfour Declaration.London.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Articles

• Friedman, Isaiah (1970).The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the Question of Palestine.Vol. 5. Journal of Contemporary History.

External links

• Henry McMahon
• Newspaper clippings about Henry McMahonin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW