Who knows Mesopotamian Civil Administration 1918?

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear GWF members,

I started a separate thread ('Editor Basrah Times & Asst Military Governor Basrah') asking about the quite well-documented but perhaps elusive Daniel Vincent McCollum (sometimes seen as MacCollum, McCallum), offering a Goodie from my bookshelves for an Image of Irishman D. V. McCollum (1886-1967).

Although a mere Lieutenant, T/Capt., IARO, he 'took a prominent part in the administration of Basra 1917-18' (an unknown source: read 'Adjutant, Indian Base Depot, 1915-16') - and subsequently served as Political Agent, Kuwait, 1919-20.

His contract was with the 'Mesopotamian Civil Administration', and perhaps some afficionado in the GWF community can tell me more...?

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[MaureenE]

I  imagine they performed much the same sort of duties that the Indian Civil Service  performed in India.

 

There are some online books

Review of the civil administration of Mesopotamia by Gertrude L Bell. Issued by the India Office December 1920. Hathi Trust Digital Library

 

Loyalties: Mesopotamia; a personal and historical record, Volume II 1917-1920 by Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson 1931. HathiTrust Digital Library. Possibly not accessible in USA etc. Also available as a download from Kurdipedia.org 1936 edition. Also published under the title Mesopotamia, 1917-1920; a Clash of Loyalties.

Also the first volume Loyalties Mesopotamia 1914 -1917: A personal and Historical Record. From the Outbreak of War to the Death of General Maude by Arnold T Wilson 1930. Archive.org. 

 

Not directly relevant, but gives a general impression

Page 219 The Memoirs Of Sir Ronald Storrs 1937 Archive.org. The author, working for the Foreign Office in Egypt, was appointed Political Officer in Mesopotamia in 1917 to represent the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia

 

Cheers

Maureen

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear Maureen,

Many thanks for your kind and prompt response.

This is not the first time you have "come to the rescue", where others have held back, and I greatly appreciate your efforts on my behalf.

Yes, I cyber-leafed through parts of the formidable Gertrude Bell's "Review" (she almost single-handedly created Iraq, and got a modest CBE for it all).

Needless to say, at first glance I found no trace of my Lt (T/Capt) Daniel Vincent McCollum (sometimes irritatingly shown as 'McCallum' - even in the Indian Army Lists, until corrected!), a very junior officer of the perhaps looked down-upon IARO.

Moreover, McConnell was - for all the high-sounding temporary jobs which that Irish ex-teacher officer held - a very small and minor cog in the machinery called the Mesopotamian Civil Administration. Arnold T. Wilson and Sir Ronald Storrs, for example, were far better-known and wrote about themselves...

Having said that, I know that there are documents in the British Library written by Capt McCollum about his time as Political Agent, Kuwait, but I thought that the GWF would be a good starting point to explore his Great War experience.

A Goodie from my bookshelves for an Image of D. V. McCollum!

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Here are the medal impressed namings.

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear All,

This is what Captain D. V. McCollum, IARO (and his young wife who died in childbirth a year later) looked like: standing at left and behind in the Kuwait Sheikhs 1919 visit to the UK.

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear All,

And on a visit with the Sheikhs to the Pathe Building - note crowds and Police presence...

Capt McCollum had just married Eileen and they were honeymooning in their native Ireland, when he (Political Agent, Kuwait) was recalled to duty, to entertain the Sheiks, who had felt neglected and disliked Philby, who was involved in the 1919 Kuwait Mission to London. McCollum with the help of his wife managed to get Sheikh Ahmad "on side", and interpreted when the Sheikh had an audience with the King at Buckingham Palace.

McConnell got nothing in the way of a reward (indeed, Capt and Mrs McCollum's expenses were quiried by the Account Dept in the early 1920s), and Eileen McCollum died in childbirth the following year in Simla...

Kindest regards,

Kim.