FINE DOCUMENT ADDRESSED TO THE KING OF YEMEN GEORGE VI (1895-1952, King of Great Britain)

Fine Typed Document Signed addressed to the King of Yemen saying that he is “desirous of affording to Your Majesty a special testimony of Our earnest wish to cultivate and improve the relations of friendship and good understanding so happily subsisting between our two countries, We have resolved to confide to Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir Reginald Stuart Champion, Knight Commander of Our Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Officer of our Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Governor of our Colony of Aden, the additional high task of representing Us in the character of Our Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Your Majesty...”, 2 sides folio with original envelope and copy in Arabic, Court at St James’s, 25th February

Sir Reginald Stuart CHAMPION (1895-1982) was a British colonial administrator and Church of England clergyman. He was Governor of Aden from 1944 to 1951. Champion was Political Secretary in Aden from 1928 to 1934, Financial Adviser to the Emirate of Trans-Jordan from 1934 to 1939, and District Commissioner in the Galilee from 1939 to 1942. He also carried out political missions to the Yemen in 1933–34 and 1940. He was appointed Chief Secretary to the Government of Aden in 1942, and was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Aden in 1944. In the Aden riots following UN Resolution 181 in 1947, Champion dispatched the Aden Protectorate Levies, a military force of local Arab-Muslim recruits, to quell the disturbances. The APL was responsible for much of the killing in the riot, which resulted in the death of 82 Jews, 33 Arabs, 4 Muslim Indians, and one Somali. He retired from the Colonial Service in 1951.
Ahman bin YAHYA (1891-1962) was the penultimate king of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, who reigned from 1948 to 1962. His ruthless, arbitrary and inconsistent rule made him the subject of a coup attempt, frequent assassination attempts and eventually lead to the downfall of the kingdom shortly after his death. His enemies ranged from ambitious family members to forward-looking pan-Arabists and Republicans and from them he was given the name "Ahmad the devil." He remained surprisingly popular among his subjects, particularly the northern tribesmen from whom he had the name "Big Turban". For his remarkable ability to narrowly escape numerous assassination attempts, he was known as al-Djinn.

Item Date:  1949

Stock No:  42074      £750

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