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Harry Pirie-Gordon: Historical research, journalism and intelligence gathering in the Eastern Mediterranean (1908–18)

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02684520601046382

1743-9019

David Gill,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Abstract British scholars were active in the Levant during the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War. Harry Pirie-Gordon toured medieval castles in the region during the spring of 1908 under the auspices of the British School at Athens; T.E. Lawrence used his maps in the following year. Pirie-Gordon continued to travel widely in the Near East as a member of the Foreign Department of The Times and was involved with the survey of the Syrian coastline around Alexandretta. He was commissioned in the RNVR in 1914 and took part in the raid by HMS Doris on Alexandretta. Pirie-Gordon served in an intelligence capacity at Gallipoli before returning to Cairo to work with David Hogarth. In 1916 he was involved with the occupation of Makronisi (Long Island) in the Gulf of Smyrna. Later that year he took charge of the EMSIB operation at Salonica until its purge in early 1917. Pirie-Gordon returned to the Arab Bureau in Cairo and took part in the Palestine campaign. Notes I am grateful to Dr Robin Darwall-Smith, archivist of Magdalen College, Oxford, for this assistance over Pirie-Gordon's Oxford background, and to Professor Yigal Sheffy for his generous help over the intelligence background to Pirie-Gordon's activities. Dr Christopher Stray has offered helpful comments on the background to the BSA, and Michael Simpson on aspects of the Mediterranean in the First World War. Caroline Bossowska of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, assisted with the background to Pirie-Gordon's wartime issue of stamps. 1 Y. Sheffy, British Military Intelligence in the Palestine Campaign, 1914–1918, Cass series: Studies in Intelligence (London: Frank Cass 1998) pp.21–2. 2 For a defence: R. Clogg, ‘The British School at Athens and the Modern History of Greece’ in Anglo-Greek Attitudes: Studies in History, St Antony's Series (London: Macmillan 2000) pp.19–35. 3 E.g. Gertrude Bell: H.V.F. Winstone, Gertrude Bell (London: Constable 1993); J.M. Asher-Greve, ‘Gertrude L. Bell (1868–1926)’ in G.M. Cohen and M.S. Joukowsky (eds.) Breaking Ground: Pioneering Women Archaeologists (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2004) pp.142–97. 4 For an overview: ‘War Service of Students at the School, 1914–1919’, Annual of the British School at Athens 23 (1918/19) pp.viii–xiii. 5 H.V.F. Winstone, The Illicit Adventure: The Story of Political and Military Intelligence in the Middle East from 1898 to 1926 (London: Jonathan Cape 1982) p.8: cited as one of the ‘young intelligence men … an archaeologist working for the Admiralty’. 6 Family details can be found in Burke's Landed Gentry s.v. Pirie-Gordon of Buthlaw; Walford's County Families. Edward Pirie-Gordon and Louisa Handley were married in 1880. 7 C. Mackenzie, Gallipoli Memories (London: Cassell & Co. 1929) pp.79–80. 8 Mackenzie, Gallipoli Memories (note 7) p.79. Compton Mackenzie was later to recall an incident when a brogue was thrown out of the window of their rooms, hitting a policeman; this had led to a fine by John L. Myres, then a Junior Proctor. See C. Mackenzie, First Athenian Memories (London: Cassell and Company Ltd. 1931) p.249. For Myres' role in the Aegean during the First World War: J.N.L. Myres, Commander J.L. Myres, R.N.V.R.: the Blackbeard of the Aegean, J.L. Myres Memorial Lecture, vol. 10 (London: Leopard's Head Press 1980). 9 M.J. Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe: Baron Corvo (London: Hamish Hamilton 1977) p.189. See also D. Bradshaw, ‘Rolfe, Frederick William, styled Baron Corvo (1860–1913)’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2004) (hereafter ODNB). 10 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.189. The Vatican Library is also mentioned in The Times, 10 December 1969. 11 Luke recalls meeting Rolfe in the Michaelmas term of 1905: H.S. Luke, Cities and Men: An Autobiography (London: Bles. 1953) vol. I, pp.115–16. 12 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.190, and pl. xi (Pirie-Gordon wearing robes of the order). For the correspondence between Pirie-Gordon and Rolfe: C. Woolf, A Bibliography of Frederick Rolfe. Baron Corvo, 2nd rev. ed. (London: Rupert Hart Davis 1972) pp.74–6, covering the period from 30 September 1906 (letters in the Bodleian Library). 13 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.190: August and September 1906. Rolfe spent Christmas 1906 at Gwernvale, returning for a long spell in February 1907: Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) pp.194, 196. 14 C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, Innocent the Great: An Essay on his Life and Times (London: Longmans Green and Co. 1907). E.g. Edward B. Krehbiel, The American Historical Review 13/3 (1908) pp.564–6. The book was partly written on Amalfi. For further bibliographic information: Woolf, Frederick Rolfe (note 12) pp.104–5. 15 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) pp.191–2. The relationship turned sour: Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.258. 16 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.200. 17 R. Holland, ‘Luke, Sir Harry Charles (1884–1969)’ in ODNB; see also Luke, Cities and Men (note 11). Luke was in Oxford for part of 1907 to prepare for his trip to the Near East with Pirie-Gordon: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, p.121. Luke returned to England in May 1908. Luke and Pirie-Gordon had spent the Long Vacation of 1905 on Iona: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, pp.112–15. 18 D.W.J. Gill, ‘Dawkins, Richard MacGillivray (1871–1955)’ in ODNB. Dawkins, like Pirie-Gordon, had a shared friendship with Baron Corvo, whom he had met at Gwernvale in September 1907: Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.196. For the pattern of students at the British School at Athens in this period: D.W.J. Gill, ‘From the Cam to the Cephissus, from the Isis to the Ilissus: Students at the British School at Athens before the First World War’ (in preparation); see also H. Waterhouse, The British School at Athens: The First Hundred Years, British School at Athens suppl., vol. 19 (London: Thames & Hudson 1986). 19 G.E. Aylmer, ‘Doyle, John Andrew (1844–1907)’ in ODNB. See also P. Mackridge, ‘“Some Pamphlets on Dead Greek Dialects”: R.M. Dawkins and Modern Greek Dialectology’, Annual of the British School at Athens 85 (1990) pp.201–12; Gill, ‘Dawkins’, ODNB. Doyle's other house was Plas Dulas in North Wales. For the sums inherited: Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.263. Doyle was the grandson of Sir John Easthope through his mother; Dawkins was the great-grandson of Easthope through his mother. 20 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, p.123. 21 Ibid. p.124, ‘Hasluck was an invaluable adviser to us’. For Hasluck: A. Kakissis, ‘Frederick Hasluck and the British School at Athens before World War One’ in D. Shankland (ed.) Archaeology, Anthropology and Heritage in the Balkans and Anatolia: The Life and Times of F.W. Hasluck, 1878–1920 (Istanbul: The Isis Press 2004) vol. 1, pp.205–21. 22 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, p.124. 23 Ibid. pp.124–5. 24 Ibid. pp.126–7. 25 Ibid., pp.128–9. 26 W.M. Calder, ‘The Eastern Boundary of the Province Asia’, Classical Review 22 (1908) pp. 213–15. Calder was two years older than Pirie-Gordon, but had taken a second first degree at Christ Church, Oxford (1903–7). For this period: D.W.J. Gill, ‘The British School at Athens and Archaeological Research in the Late Ottoman Empire’ in D. Shankland (ed.) Archaeology, Anthropology and Heritage in the Balkans and Anatolia: The Life and Times of F.W. Hasluck, 1878–1920 (Istanbul: The Isis Press 2004) vol. 1, pp.223–55. 27 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, pp.133–9. 28 Ibid. p.140. 29 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.200. The date is given in The Times, 10 December 1969. The original plan was for Pirie-Gordon and his friend Harry Luke, to be accompanied by Rolfe as photographer: Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.199. In June 1908 Francis Maunsell was collecting information in Syria: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.25. 30 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, p.146. 31 Ibid. p.154. Luke records Hogarth had been looking at Hittite remains at Tell Ahmar. For Hogarth in Syria at this time: D.G. Hogarth, ‘Hierapolis Syriae’, Annual of the British School at Athens 14 (1907/08) pp.183–96. 32 D.W.J. Gill, ‘Hogarth, David George (1862–1927)’ in ODNB. For the context: Gill, ‘Late Ottoman Empire’ (note 26). 33 Benkovitz, Frederick Rolfe (note 9) p.203. The accident happened on 27 April 1908. 34 C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, ‘The Reigning Princes of Galilee’, English Historical Review 27 (1912) pp.445–61. 35 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. I, p.157. 36 However for cautionary remarks on over-interpreting the motives for such archaeological work: Y. Sheffy, ‘British Intelligence and the Middle East, 1900–1918: How Much Do We Know?’, Intelligence and National Security 17 (2002) pp.36–7 (pp.33–52). 37 S.L. Marchand, Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750–1970 (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1996) pp.212–20. For work by the Austrians in Anatolia: G. Wiplinger and G. Wlach, Ephesus: 100 Years of Austrian Research (Vienna: Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut/Böhlau Verlag 1996). For an overview of archaeological work: M. Özdogan, ‘Archäologische Forschungen in der Türkei’ in Ü. Yalçin, C. Pulak and R. Slotta (eds.) Das Schiff von Uluburun. Welthandle vor 3000 Jahren. Katalog der Ausstellung des Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum vom 15. Juli 2005 bis 16. Juli 2006 (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum 2005) pp.26–44. 38 Winstone, Illicit Adventure (note 5) pp.43–5. 39 Ibid. p.45. 40 S. Weintraub, ‘Buckle, George Earle (1854–1935)’ in ODNB. 41 D. Atkinson, ‘Payn, James (1830–1898)’ in ODNB. 42 The Times 29 June 1910, 1 July 1910. The couple had two sons: Christopher Martin, a diplomat (1911–1980), and George Patrick (b. 24 May 1918). 43 Gill, ‘Hogarth’, ODNB (note 34); and see also H.V.F. Winstone, Woolley of Ur: The Life of Sir Leonard Woolley (London: Secker & Warburg 1990). For Hogarth: P. Lock, ‘D.G. Hogarth (1862–1927). “A Specialist in the Science of Archaeology”’, Annual of the British School at Athens 85 (1990) pp.175–200. 44 Winstone, Woolley (note 43) p.63. 45 Letter, ‘Vandalism in upper Syria and Mesopotamia’, The Times, 8 August 1911, p.10; see also the response form T.G. Jackson, ‘Young Turks and Old Buildings’, The Times, 11 August 1911, p.3. 46 Winstone, Woolley (note 43) p.63 (and not 1906 as on p.73). 47 Ibid. p.50. 48 Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) pp.24, 26. 49 One of Pirie-Gordon's predecessors in The Times was Philip Graves, working from Istanbul and Cairo, who also served in intelligence during the First World War: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.24; B. Westrate, The Arab Bureau: British Policy in the Middle East, 1916–1920 (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press 1992) pp.49–50. 50 The paper was initiated in March 1908. Copies are available in the Collingdale Library, British Library. 51 Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.45. 52 For Pirie-Gordon's commission: The Times, 10 December 1969, p.13. Yigal Sheffy informs me that Pirie-Gordon's original role was as press censor. 53 Winstone, Woolley (note 43) p.63. The plan dates back to 1909: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.24. 54 The Doris bombarded Alexandretta on 15 December 1914. For the role of the Doris, C.V. Usborne, Smoke on the Horizon (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1933); E.P. Hoyt, Disaster at the Dardanelles (London: Arthur Baker 1976). One of the interpreters on board was Pirie-Gordon's old friend Harry Luke, seconded from the administration of Cyprus: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, p.4; Holland, ‘Luke’ (note 17). Michael Simpson informs me that Larken held the local rank of Commodore. 55 Reported in The Times, 10 December 1969, p.13. 56 Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.24. 57 Reported in The Times, 30 June 1915, p.8. Luke recalled that Pirie-Gordon ‘carr[ied] a wounded rating under heavy fire back to the ship's boat on one of our raids’: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, p.5. 58 R. Rhodes James, Gallipoli (London: Pimlico 1999) p.16: ‘This opera bouffe episode understandably persuaded many people – including Churchill – that Turkish military competence was not very highly developed’. See also: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.61; P.G. Halpern, The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1914–1918 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press 1987) p.55. Alexandretta became the setting for feints in October–November 1915 to draw Ottoman troops away from the Gallipoli campaign: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.113. For Alexandretta's continuing role in the intelligence war: Winstone, Woolley (note 43) pp.79–80. 59 E. O'Halpin, ‘Hall, Sir (William) Reginald (1870–1943)’ in ODNB. The Arab Bureau was not formalized until February–March 1916: Westrate, Arab Bureau (note 49) pp.20–21. 60 Westrate, Arab Bureau (note 49) p.145. 61 For Birdwood's landings on 25 April 1915: James, Gallipoli (note 58) pp.102–3. For Pirie-Gordon and Luke on Mudros: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, p.17. 62 James, Gallipoli (note 58) pp.185–7. 63 Mackenzie, Gallipoli Memories (note 7) p.79. Ptomaine poisoning is a term that has been replaced by food-poisoning. For Pirie-Gordon at Gallipoli: The Times, 10 December 1969, p.13. Pirie-Gordon's departure was noted by Audrey Herbert who was also an intelligence officer at Gallipoli: A. Herbert, Mons, Anzac and Kut (London: E. Arnold 1919). 64 Winstone, Illicit Adventure (note 5) p.190. 65 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, p.22. 66 I am grateful to Yigal Sheffy for clarifying the significance of Alexandretta during the First World War. He reminds me that Alexandretta's place in a post-war world was first recognized by the committee chaired by Sir Maurice de Bunsen in mid-1915: see also Westrate, Arab Bureau (note 49) p.21. 67 On 27 January 1916 De Robeck wrote to Balfour: ‘They [members of the French and British Commission at Salonika] have proposed to occupy the Mount Athos Peninsula with patrols but I have requested Mahon and Nicholson to take no action until they have seen me and have told Gauchet that the Askold (Russian) is not to go to Mount Athos at present owing to the submarine risk’: P.G. Halpern (ed.) The Royal Navy in the Mediterranean 1915–1918. Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol. 126 (Aldershot: Navy Records Society 1987) p.83. See also Admiral Sir Henry B. Jackson in the Admiralty to de Robeck, 28 January 1916: ‘What they want to send small detachments to Athos for I can't conceive’: Halpern, Royal Navy, p.85. Luke suggested that the plan was never carried out due to Russian opposition: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, pp.25–6. 68 The London Gazette, 7 December 1915, 12193 (as from 2 December 1915). 69 Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, p.25. 70 The appearance of a ‘first day cover’ franked 25 January 1916 and addressed to Pirie-Gordon is perhaps significant (auctioned Shreves Philatelic Galleries Inc, Addison TX, 27 June 2003, lot 691). It uses tri-lingual stamps for the projected Monastic Republic of Mount Athos. These were prepared on board the HMS Ark Royal: Luke, Cities and Men (note 11) vol. II, p.25. Given Pirie-Gordon's interest in stamps at Makronisi (Long Island) in May 1916, it is not unreasonable to link him with this project. 71 A.B. Cunningham of Hyndhope, A Sailor's Odyssey: The Autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope (London: Hutchinson 1951) p.79. I am grateful to Michael Simpson for this reference. 72 The Times, 21 February 1916, p.7. Vurla (the modern Urla) lies at the southern end of the Gulf of Smyrna. 73 ‘British Landing at Chios’, The Times, 21 February 1916, p.7. The report noted the arrest of the German and Austrian consuls. Chios had been captured by the Greeks in November 1912. The plan to arrest ‘enemy agents’ including consular agents in the islands off the Anatolian coast had been prepared by Compton Mackenzie in early August 1915: Mackenzie, Gallipoli Memories (note 7) pp.280–83. 74 ‘Smyrna Coast Bombarded’, The Times, 17 June 1916, p.5. 75 Royal Naval Division War Diary, PRO ADM/3084. The Lowestoft was part of the 8th Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean from 1916. The Division had two 12-pounder guns at the start of the Gallipoli campaign: James, Gallipoli (note 58) p.78. On 21 April 1916, de Robeck noted 150 men on Long Island: Halpern, Royal Navy (note 67) p.136, and see p.133 (13 April). 76 Noted in The Times, 10 December 1969, p.13. 77 A convenient selection can be found in the archive of Spinks, London: . 78 On which see N. Courtney, The Queen's Stamps: The Authorised History of the Royal Philatelic Collection (London: Methuen 2004). 79 On 12 May 1916, J.M. De Robeck wrote, ‘They [the Turks] are making the neighbourhood of Lond Island rather hot & the small monitors have to keep off during the daytime’: Halpern, Royal Navy (note 67) p.146. 80 The M30 had been commissioned on 23 June 1915. The M30 was commanded by Edmund Lawrence Braithwaite Lockyer. Halpern gives the date of sinking as the night of 13 May 1916: Halpern, Naval War (note 58) p.289; Halpern, Royal Navy (note 67) p.147. For M30: E.K. Chatterton, Seas of Adventure: The Story of Naval Operations in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean (London: Hurst & Blackett 1936) pp.209–13. 81 Halpern gives the date as 27 May: Halpern, Naval War (note 58) p.289. 82 ‘Monitor's attack near Smyrna’, The Times, 16 June 1916, p.7. The communiqué was issued through Amsterdam on 15 June. 83 ‘Smyrna coast bombarded’, The Times, 17 June 1916, p.5. The Ottoman report originated in Constantinople on 16 June. 84 The Times 11 July 1916, p.5, noted from an Ottoman communiqué received in Amsterdam on 9 July. 85 Sheffy, ‘British Intelligence’ (note 36) pp.38–9. Mackenzie called it the V Bureau: Mackenzie, First Athenian Memories (note 8) p.340. For the context: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1). 86 Sheffy, ‘British Intelligence’ (note 36) pp.38–9, 45; see also C. Mackenzie, Greek Memories (London: Chatto & Windus 1939) p.7. The decision to form EMSIB was apparently taken in June 1915. 87 R. Meiggs, ‘Marcus Niebuhr Tod 1878–1974’, Proceedings of the British Academy 60 (1974) p.490. 88 ‘En peau de loup. Professors as Cattle Lifters’, The Times, 2 August 1916, p.9. A likely author for this anonymous report is Compton Mackenzie. 89 Mackenzie, First Athenian Memories (note 8) p.341. Dates for these events are recorded in the Magdalen College, Oxford archive. I am grateful to Robin Darwall-Smith for providing me the information. For the context: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) p.151. 90 E.S. Forster, A Short History of Modern Greece 1821–1940 (London: Methuen & Co. 1941) p.111. 91 Ibid. pp.111–12. For context: M. Mazower, Salonica City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430–1950 (London: Harper Perennial 2005) p.309. 92 Meiggs, ‘Tod’ (note 87) pp.485–95. 93 Mackenzie, First Athenian Memories (note 8) pp.340–41. See also Mackenzie, Greek Memories (note 86) p.10, ‘Army Headquarters at Salonica resented the B branch of the E.M.S.I.B. almost as much as Army Headquarters itself resented not being General Headquarters’. 94 C. Mackenzie, Aegean Memories (London: Cassell 1940) p.51, and see p.77, ‘G.H.Q. had expelled two invaluable officers of the E.M.S.I.B. from Salonica’. 95 Ibid. p.51. 96 There was an attempt to make Mackenzie responsible for the Salonica operation: ibid. p.77. For Compton Mackenzie's role in intelligence work: Sheffy, ‘British Intelligence’ (note 36) p.44. 97 Mackenzie, Aegean Memories (note 94) pp.103–4, 107, 140–41. 98 Ibid. p.158. 99 Westrate, Arab Bureau (note 49) p.111. For the intervention of Sykes: The Times, 10 December 1969, p.13. 100 Westrate, Arab Bureau (note 49) p.195. For opposition to the proposed role: Westrate, Arab Bureau (note 49) p.198. For Pirie-Gordon's new rank and service: The London Gazette suppl. 6 February 1918, 1712. His commission dated from 16 January 1918. For the issues facing intelligence work in the early months of 1918: Sheffy, British Military Intelligence (note 1) pp.300–301. 101 C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, A Guide-Book to Southern Palestine, Palestine Pocket Guide-books, vol. 1 (Palestine News n.d.); C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, A Guide-Book to Central Palestine, Palestine Pocket Guide-books, vol. 2 (Palestine News n.d.); C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, A Guide-Book to Northern Palestine and Southern Syria, Palestine Pocket Guide-books, vol. 3 (Palestine News n.d.); C.H.C. Pirie-Gordon, A Guide-Book to Central Syria, Lebanon, and Phoenicia, Palestine Pocket Guide-books, vol. 4 (Palestine News n.d.). 102 H. Pirie-Gordon, A Brief Record of the Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the Command of General Sir Edmund H. H. Allenby: July 1917 to October 1918 (Cairo: The Government Press and Survey of Egypt 1919). 103 The Times, 24 April 1967, p.9 (letter). Although Pirie-Gordon does not identify the officer, the reference to the command of a Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) in Portsmouth is likely to be to himself. 104 ‘To Rescue Petrograd. New Government Formed, British Mission at Work, Yudenitch's Bold Move’, The Times, 16 August 1919, p.10. The London Gazette, suppl. 18 August 1919, 10450 noted that temporary Lt.-Col. Pirie-Gordon was ‘specially employed’ on the General List (as of 14 May 1919). 105 L.P. Kirwan, ‘Obituary: Mr. Harry Pirie-Gordon, OBE, DSC, FSA’, Geographical Journal 136 (1970) p.170.