[Palestine] - Hyamson, Albert M. (ed.). The British Consulate in Jerusalem in Relation to the Jews of Palestine 1838-1914 [...].

€ 1.500,00

Only edition. Hitherto largely unpublished records of the British Consulate in Jerusalem on behalf of the Jews of Palestine. A trove of diplomatic correspondence reflecting regular communications between the consul and important figures of British politics, including Lord Aberdeen, Viscount Palmerston, Sir Stratford Canning, and Lord Rothschild.

It appears the core mission of the British Consulate was to extend British protection to most Jews in the city and actively to promote their welfare and safeguard their interests. Thus, questions of extension or withdrawal of protection (including the protection of Russian Jews) and of Ottoman opposition thereto figure prominently among the topics discussed. In addition, the consular letters address matters of education, infrastructure and religion, such as the acquisition of land for the Evelina de Rothschild school, the railway from Egypt to Palestine, water supply, Jewish settlements, the election of the Grand Rabbi, and celebrations of the Queen's birthday among the Jewish community.

The British Consulate in Jerusalem opened in March 1839 and was closed on 16 November 1914, on the outbreak of war with the Ottoman Empire. During this period of 76 years, there were seven representatives of the British Government in Jerusalem: William Tanner Young (appointed 19 Sept. 1838), James Finn (25 Nov. 1845), Noel Moore (31 Oct. 1862), John Dickson (10 Sept. 1890), Edward Charles Blech (7 Nov. 1906), Harold Satow (3 Nov. 1909), and Peter James McGregor (26 Jan. 1912).

The editor of this collection, Albert Montefiore Hyamson (1875-1954), was a British historian and Chief Immigration Officer of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1921 to 1934. Some of the documents published in this work came from the Consulate's archives, to which Hyamson had access, and had never before been published.