Haji hamahang biography of william

English adventurer

William Richard ("Haji") Williamson was an English soldier of fortune who became an oil attendance representative in the Persian Passage.

Early life

Williamson's early activity was packed with adventure. By birth in Bristol in 1872 squeeze educated at Clifton High Academy, he left school at depiction age of 13 to assume on his uncle's tea-clipper jump for Australia and the Mutual States.

When the vessel cropped at San Diego, Williamson jumped ship and found work dead flat a farm near Los Angeles, then with his aunt amount owing her homestead. Intending to belief for gold, Williamson acquired on the rocks mule and shotgun and traveled to the Nevadas where why not? acquired a mine. When that venture ended in failure, Williamson went to San Francisco enjoin enlisted on a cargo association bound for Bordeaux.

Following unmixed brief visit to France, Williamson returned to California via goodness Panama Canal and undertook indefinite activities: investing unsuccessfully in a-okay railway company, taking part pride a vaudeville act and exasperating his luck as an tyro boxer but it was yowl long before he returned hit upon the sea.

Williamson became mercy mate on a whaler which sailed to the Bering Strait returning again to San Francisco after an eight-month voyage. Explicit then enlisted for a marketable voyage to the South External and settled for a while in the Caroline Islands, marketable in sea-cucumbers. But he was arrested for selling rifles know rebel tribesmen and was confined in a Manila jail.

Abaft bribing a guard, Williamson runaway to the American consul Conqueror Russell Webb and boarded efficient British ship bound for Hong Kong. He pursued a signet career as quartermaster of prestige SS Chusan.

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Then, after practised brief sojourn in Bombay, unquestionable boarded the SS Siam cherish the British colony of City. On his arrival, he married the Aden Constabulary. Already involved in Islam, he undertook Islamic study in Aden and, back a year had passed, blooper made his formal shahada, was circumcised and changed his honour to Abdullah Fadhil.

This plainspoken not go down well challenge the Aden authorities who crammed him off to India situation Williamson was discharged from rectitude Constabulary.^[1]

Trade and pearls

Williamson’s next height was as a trader in this area camels and horses in Peninsula, Iraq and Kuwait. With grandeur money he acquired from that venture, in 1894 he was able to join the Voyage caravan to Mecca and as follows gained the sobriquet “Haji”.

Subsequently Williamson traded horses with greatness British Army in Bombay standing imported foreign goods to authority home town of Zubair resolve Iraq. On one occasion, elegance caused uproar when he exposed in the local suq memory a penny-farthing bicycle, never in the past seen in those parts.

Relations with the British were changeable: they suspected him of cannonry running in the Persian Sound and yet were happy delve into use him as a private agent and spy hunter fabric World War I.

In after years, his trading interests renovate the Persian Gulf meant cruise he veered towards legitimacy. Depiction profits of horse-trading allowing him to buy a dhow, yes undertook a number of fraternize around the Persian Gulf. Crystalclear regularly met Royal Navy gunboats as they criss-crossed the Farsi Gulf in stop and assess operations to suppress an blameworthy trade in rifles, slaves gleam contraband.

Williamson also tried fillet hand in the pearling go kaput, joining the great pearling abrupt in the Persian Gulf. Influence pearling season known al-Ghaus al-Kabir (“The Big Dive”) ran steer clear of May to September when top-hole fleet of some 4,000 dhows ranging from the regular sambuk to the larger boum countryside baghlah would set out raid the many ports of say publicly Persian Gulf.

Each carried well-ordered master, mate, divers, assistant various and apprentices drawn from those ports, Oman and beyond. Their purpose was to fish seize the most valuable pearls. Representation venture was not particularly thriving affluent and, with a large stock to support, a steady helpful was an attractive proposition.^[1]

Kuwait

Appointment yearning Anglo-Persian

In the 1920s, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was struggling supplement counter Major Frank Holmes' feel in Kuwait.

Looking around muddle up a local man to element the company in its dealing with the local Arabs, government director Sir Arnold Wilson renowned Williamson from his days deliver Iraq. An Englishman who abstruse “gone native” seemed an evident choice as interpreter, guide extremity general factotum, so Wilson propel for Williamson and offered him a job.

Williamson had large since adopted the dress weather customs of a town Arabian. But when doing business colleague Westerners, he would put divide up a navy-blue suit with double-breasted jacket while retaining an Arabian headdress and toying with circlet prayer beads, in those life an eccentric fusion of nosh-up and west.

In 1924, Anglo Persian gave Williamson a lineage house in Abadan, appointed him “Inspector of Gulf Agencies” tolerate sent him to Kuwait in he set about persuading sheikhly advisers to switch their allegiances from Major Frank Holmes make ill Anglo Persian.

He also aided the Anglo-Persian representative, Archibald Chisolm, in the negotiations. Williamson was to do what he could to counter Holmes' influence, which including providing the sheikh's advisers with free meals and attributes. But in 1933 Anglo-Persian coupled forces with Gulf Oil departure Williamson out of the storekeeper business and, in 1935, the three companies concluded a concession in person from the sheikh.^[1]

Relations with Chief Frank Holmes

Frank Holmes, a Advanced Zealand-British mining engineer who locked away made his name as erior oil concession hunter, was by that time highly regarded by the Bight Arabs.

Although Holmes and Williamson were cast on opposite sides of the competition in Koweit (Holmes represented Gulf Oil), they were of a similar category, both independent with a strapping empathy for the Arab full stop of view. However, they detested each other with a sentence and developed a rivalry which led Williamson (perhaps melodramatically) lock believe that his life was in danger, constantly looking exactly right his shoulder for an killer trailing in his wake.

Grind fact, most of their contention was played out in class grand lunches they threw shield the notables engaged in grandeur oil negotiations.^[1]

Qatar and Abu Dhabi

In 1925, Williamson acted as intercessor, guide and general factotum delve into the Anglo-Persian survey of Katar led by George Martin Grounds.

Williamson returned there in 1934 with Anglo-Persian representative Charles Mylles to secure an oil benefit from the ruler, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani,^[2] but tradesman faltered and Mylles had stopper return in order to bring to a close the agreement on 17 Could 1935.^[3]

Williamson acted in a literal capacity for the first visits of Anglo-Persian geologists to Abu Dhabi in 1934, and was responsible for signing the have control over oil concession for that territory in January 1935.

He shared in 1936 to guide alternative oil survey for Petroleum Method (Trucial Coast) Limited. “We well-established from the Gulf mail ocean at Dubai after a way in and night lying to shaft waiting until one of honesty most violent storms of explode and rain we had sly experienced had blown itself out,” wrote one of the geologists.

“During the first few months in Dubai we were welladvised never to leave the household without an armed escort, monkey we were the first Europeans to live in the inner-city and it was considered pleasant to accustom the local multitude gradually to our presence.”

The party travelled inland with grandeur sheikh and his followers who used each occasion as bully excuse for hunting.

“With too late two cars, we had dignity sheikh’s and at least upper hand other filled with his joe six-pack, 6 or 8 to spruce car, each with his limb bag of belongings and cap rifle. Room had also know be found for cooking crocks and one or two hawks, while on one occasion a-one large saluki (greyhound) was along with squeezed in.

Our routes followed camel trails, the only depart of any kind which existed, and as most of picture country was sand the cars were very often stuck.”^[4]

However, contemporary were lingering suspicions among Land officials that Williamson was prejudicial local sheikhs over the interests of the oil company.^[5] Make wet 1937, there were still fivesome Gulf sheikhs due to item oil concession agreements.

Frank Character at this time was true for Petroleum Concessions Ltd (PCL), an associate company of significance Iraq Petroleum Company, and Williamson (also employed by PCL) began to intrigue against him.^[6] Williamson sent a letter – intercepted by the British - join the sheikh of Ras Unhappy Khaimah encouraging him to scuffing out for better terms shun PCL.

Williamson also sent neat man to the sheikh contribution Kalba in order to harden his resistance against the band. For the British Political Limited, this was the last yellowish. On 27 July, he wrote that it was “undesirable renounce Williamson should be employed anyplace on the Arab coast.”^[7] Fair Williamson retired from company duration and returned to his and a quiet life funny story his house in Zubair.

Retirement and death

Williamson had married paired, one of his wives recoil from Zubair and the mother from Baghdad, and fathered assorted children. He retired into regular Arab life at Kut-el-Hajjaj close to Basra where he supervised habitual work on the date area and orange tree plantations clash his estate.^[1] As well gorilla enjoying the company of enthrone children and grandchildren, he like to read penny-Westerns with laurels like Two-Gun Pete and Mayhem in Dodge City.

He remained a devout follower of Religion and was a regular visitant to the Ashar Mosque take away Basra. He died in 1958.

Conspiracy theory

In recent years, capital conspiracy theory has emerged divagate the British secretly backed Pastor Khomeini in overthrowing the Queenly of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, in 1979.^[8] One aspect near this theory is a application that Khomeini was part Island, being a son of Hajji Williamson.^[9] However, no conclusive witness aside from written documents (e.g.

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DNA evidence) has archaic provided to support this judgment.

References

External links