Sir Harold MacMichael Collection

This material is held atMiddle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, University of Oxford

Scope and Content

Correspondence with prominent officials including Lord Lloyd, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, Sir Reginald Wingate and Ormsby Gore, 1922-1941; Correspondence relating to Palestine, Syria and Sudan including letters from Chaim Weizmann, Judah Magnes, Sir H. Maitland Wilson, Sir Huddleston and Edgar Bonham Carter; Papers relating to MacMichael's Palestine Commissionership and also the Peel Commission recommendations of 1938; correspondence and papers relating to Palestine charities; texts of speeches and broadcasts by MacMichael 1938-1944; Anglo-Arab Association correspondence and papers 1945-1961; four volumes of press-cuttings, 1934-1967. Photographic collection.

Administrative / Biographical History

MacMichael, Sir Harold Alfred (1882-1969)

Born 15 October 1882, son of Revd. C. MacMichael and the Hon. Mrs. MacMichael. Educated King's Lynn and Bedford Schools and Magdalene College, Cambridge (BA 1904). Joined Sudan Political Service, 1905 was successively Inspector in Provinces of Kordofan, Blue Nile and Khartoum, Political and Intelligence Officer with Expeditionary Force which reoccupied Darfur 1916; Sub-Governor of Darfur Province and then Assistant Civil Secretary; Civil Secretary, 1926-1933, and, periodically, Acting Governor-General; CMG 1927; KCMG 1932; from 1933-1937 Governor and Commander-in-Chief Tanganyika Territory; from 1938-1944 High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief for Palestine and High Commissioner for Trans-Jordan; GCMG 1941; Special Representative of HM Government in Malaya, 1945; Constitutional Commissioner, Malta, 1946. Married, 1919, Nesta Stephens (died 1974): 2 daughters (Araminta, Lady Aldington, and one daughter deceased). Died 19 September 1969.

Arrangement

Correspondence; Commissionership; broadcasts and speeches; Anglo-Arab Association papers; press-cuttings.

Access Information

Open

For further information on how to use the Middle East Centre Archive, please see our Archon entry at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/a/A13531965

Acquisition Information

Received as a gift from Lady MacMichael, Aug 1970

Archivist's Note

Fonds level description created by Clare Brown 14 Apr 1999 and revised by Debbie Usher 28 May 2008. File level based on descriptions created in 1970s.

Conditions Governing Use

No restrictions on copying or quotation other than statutory regulations and preservation concerns

Custodial History

In the possession of Sir Harold MacMichael and his family

Related Material

In Other Repositories

GB33: Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections: Palace Green Section (Sudan Archive) MacMichael correspondence and papers 1905-1960

GB161: Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts: MacMichael letters to OGS Crawford 1950-1954

GB162: Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House: MacMichael correspondence and papers 1905-1956

Corporate Names

Geographical Names