Misplaced Pages

Walter Burton Harris: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 18:52, 28 January 2023 editBoubloub (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users16,899 edits Villa Harris in Tangier← Previous edit Latest revision as of 05:34, 25 September 2024 edit undoJJMC89 bot III (talk | contribs)Bots, Administrators3,666,242 editsm Moving Category:English LGBT journalists to Category:English LGBTQ journalists per Misplaced Pages:Categories for discussion/Log/2024 September 11#LGBT nominations which were opposed at CFDS 
(19 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{EngvarB|date=November 2013}} {{EngvarB|date=November 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox person
⚫ ], 1907]]
| name = Walter Burton Harris
] ]]
| image = Walter Burton Harris, Gemälde von Sir John Lavery (1907).jpg
⚫ '''Walter Burton Harris''' (29 August 1866 – 4 April 1933<ref name="Obituary" />) was a journalist, writer, traveller and socialite who achieved fame for his writings on ], where he worked for many years as special correspondent for '']''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Morocco That Was|url=http://www.travelbooks.co.uk/shop-online-books/morocco-that-was|website=Eland Books|access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref> He settled in the country at the age of 19, eventually building himself a fine villa in ] where he lived for much of his life. His linguistic skills and physical appearance enabled him to pose successfully as a native Moroccan, travelling to parts of the country regarded as off-limits to foreigners. He wrote a number of well-regarded books and articles on his travels in Morocco and other countries in the Near and Far East. Harris also played a significant, though not always constructive, role in the European diplomatic intrigues that affected Morocco around the turn of the 20th century.
| alt =
| caption = Harris by Sir ] (1907)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1866|08|29}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1933|04|04|1866|08|29}}
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| occupation = Journalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
⚫ }}
⚫ '''Walter Burton Harris''' (29 August 1866 – 4 April 1933) was a journalist, writer, traveller and socialite who achieved fame for his writings on ], where he worked for many years as special correspondent for '']''. He settled in the country at the age of 19, eventually building himself a fine villa in ] where he lived for much of his life. His linguistic skills and physical appearance enabled him to pose successfully as a native Moroccan, travelling to parts of the country regarded as off-limits to foreigners. He wrote a number of well-regarded books and articles on his travels in Morocco and other countries in the Near and Far East. Harris also played a significant, though not always constructive, role in the European diplomatic intrigues that affected Morocco around the turn of the 20th century.


==Early career and travels== ==Early career and travels==
⚫ Harris was born in ] as the second son of a prosperous shipping and insurance broker, Frederick W. Harris.{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=155}} His siblings included Sir Austin Edward Harris, who became a noted banker, ], a British Member of Parliament, and pianist and composer ], who was killed in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. He was educated at ] and (briefly) at ] and had already managed to travel around the world by the age of 18.<ref name="Obituary" />{{sfn|Zur Mühlen|2010|p=209}}


⚫ In 1887 he accompanied a British diplomatic mission to Morocco and settled in Tangier at the age of 19. He was briefly married to Lady Mary Savile, the daughter of the ] from 1898 to 1906,{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=155}} but the marriage was annulled on the grounds of non-consummation.{{sfn|Jeal|2007|p=106}} He lived an openly homosexual, tending towards paedophilic, lifestyle thereafter, though this was little hindrance in the social milieu of Tangier at the time.{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=155}} He was independently wealthy, living off a personal allowance and a stipend from ''The Times'', and was an ambitious social climber who associated with royalty and high-ranking politicians.{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=155}}
⚫ Harris was born in ] as the second son of a prosperous shipping and insurance broker,<ref name="Fisher155">{{cite book|title=On the Fringes of Diplomacy: Influences on British Foreign Policy, 1800–1945|chapter='An Eagle Whose Wings Are Not Always Easy To Clip': Walter Burton Harris|last=Fisher|first=John|editor1-last=Fisher|editor1-first=John|editor2-last=Best|editor2-first=Antony|page=155|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2011|isbn=9781409401193}}</ref> Frederick W. Harris. His siblings included Sir Austin Edward Harris, who became a noted banker, ], a British Member of Parliament, and pianist and composer ], who was killed in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. He was educated at ] and (briefly) at ] and had already managed to travel around the world by the age of 18.<ref name="Obituary" /><ref name="ZurMuhlen">{{cite book|title=The End and the Beginning: The Book of My Life, Volume 1|last=Zur Mühlen|first=Hermynia|page=209|publisher=Open Book Publishers|year=2010|isbn=9781906924270}}</ref>

⚫ In 1887 he accompanied a British diplomatic mission to Morocco and settled in Tangier at the age of 19. He was briefly married to Lady Mary Savile, the daughter of the ] from 1898 to 1906,<ref name="Fisher155" /> but the marriage was annulled on the grounds of non-consummation.<ref>{{cite book|title=Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts|last=Jeal|first=Tim|page=106|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780300125139}}</ref> He lived an openly homosexual, tending towards paedophilic, lifestyle thereafter, though this was little hindrance in the social milieu of Tangier at the time.{{sfn|Best|2016|p=155}} He was independently wealthy, living off a personal allowance and a stipend from ''The Times'', and was an ambitious social climber who associated with royalty and high-ranking politicians.<ref name="Fisher156" />


Harris was a fluent speaker of French, Spanish and ], and his physical features were such that he could pass for a native Moroccan. This enabled him to travel undetected into the interior of Morocco, which was at the time off-limits to outsiders, and thus see and describe places that no European had been to. During his travels he disguised himself as an inhabitant of the ], looking (as ''The Times'' put it) like "the complete fanatical-looking type, with shaven head but for a foot-long lock hanging from the crown, red guncase for turban, short brown ], bare reddish-tanned neck and legs, carrying a long native musket, and glancing furtively as he went, just as such men from home do."<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news|title=Obituary – Mr. Walter Harris|work=The Times|page=16|date=5 April 1933}}</ref> Harris was a fluent speaker of French, Spanish and ], and his physical features were such that he could pass for a native Moroccan. This enabled him to travel undetected into the interior of Morocco, which was at the time off-limits to outsiders, and thus see and describe places that no European had been to. During his travels he disguised himself as an inhabitant of the ], looking (as ''The Times'' put it) like "the complete fanatical-looking type, with shaven head but for a foot-long lock hanging from the crown, red guncase for turban, short brown ], bare reddish-tanned neck and legs, carrying a long native musket, and glancing furtively as he went, just as such men from home do."<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news|title=Obituary – Mr. Walter Harris|work=The Times|page=16|date=5 April 1933}}</ref>


He soon won the respect of the Moroccans for his exploits and made some unlikely friends, such as the mountain chieftain ] who repeatedly fought the Moroccan government (and later the Spanish) during the first 25 years of the 20th century. Harris was captured and briefly imprisoned by Raisuni, regaining his freedom via a prisoner exchange, but came to establish a friendship with the chieftain and later wrote admiringly about him. He was also a confidant of at least three Moroccan sultans and built himself a fine villa near Tangier, which he called Villa Harris.<ref name="Fisher155" /> He soon won the respect of the Moroccans for his exploits and made some unlikely friends, such as the mountain chieftain ] who repeatedly fought the Moroccan government (and later the Spanish) during the first 25 years of the 20th century. Harris was captured and briefly imprisoned by Raisuni, regaining his freedom via a prisoner exchange, but came to establish a friendship with the chieftain and later wrote admiringly about him. He was also a confidant of at least three Moroccan sultans and built himself a fine home in Tangier, the Villa Harris.{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=155}}


==Journalistic career and political involvement== ==Journalistic career and political involvement==
⚫ Harris began writing for ''The Times'' in 1887 and became a permanent correspondent from 1906, at a time when Morocco was becoming a focus for conflict between the European powers.{{sfn|Harris|2002|p=?}} He had a first-hand view of the dynastic conflicts and political weaknesses that culminated in ] of France and Spain in 1912 and chronicled the events of that period in a series of articles for ''The Times'', as well as writing a number of books on his travels in Morocco. He also travelled further afield, visiting Egypt, the Near East and the Far East.<ref name="Obituary" /> He served as a special correspondent in the ] in 1892 and in ] in 1915, where he caused a dispute between King ] and ] after writing articles critical of the latter for ''The Times''. He claimed to have worked for ] intelligence during the latter part of the ].{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=156}}


⚫ He played an active part in the international disputes in Morocco, using his access to high-ranking Moroccan figures to influence the course of events. Britain had long been Morocco's dominant trading partner and Harris initially opposed France's ambitions to play a bigger role in the country. He believed that Morocco's independence should be preserved and that the country should be helped to modernise itself and overcome the endemic disorder that plagued it. He therefore helped initially to support the Germans, who likewise opposed French involvement in Morocco, until he was instructed in 1905 by ''The Times''' foreign editor Valentine Chirol – who was closely linked to the British ] – that it was necessary to support the French. The '']'', signed in 1904, clearly assigned Egypt and Morocco to the spheres of influence of Britain and France respectively. In the ], Harris attacked the ] of ] in ''The Times,'', whom France also opposed.{{sfn|al-Khudaymī|2009|p=?}}
⚫ Harris began writing for ''The Times'' in 1887 and became a permanent correspondent from 1906, at a time when Morocco was becoming a focus for conflict between the European powers. He had a first-hand view of the dynastic conflicts and political weaknesses that culminated in ] of France and Spain in 1912 and chronicled the events of that period in a series of articles for ''The Times'', as well as writing a number of books on his travels in Morocco. He also travelled further afield, visiting Egypt, the Near East and the Far East.<ref name="Obituary" /> He served as a special correspondent in the ] in 1892 and in ] in 1915, where he caused a dispute between King ] and ] after writing articles critical of the latter for ''The Times''. He claimed to have worked for ] intelligence during the latter part of the ].<ref name="Fisher156">Fisher, p. 156</ref>
⚫ ]
⚫ He played an active part in the international disputes in Morocco, using his access to high-ranking Moroccan figures to influence the course of events. Britain had long been Morocco's dominant trading partner and Harris initially opposed France's ambitions to play a bigger role in the country. He believed that Morocco's independence should be preserved and that the country should be helped to modernise itself and overcome the endemic disorder that plagued it. He therefore helped initially to support the Germans, who likewise opposed French involvement in Morocco, until he was instructed in 1905 by ''The Times''' foreign editor Valentine Chirol – who was closely linked to the British ] – that it was necessary to support the French. The '']'', signed in 1904, clearly assigned Egypt and Morocco to the spheres of influence of Britain and France respectively. In the ], Harris attacked the ] of ] in ''The Times,''<ref>{{Cite book|last=خديمي، علال.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/670240169|title=الحركة الحفيظية، أو، المغرب قبيل فرض الحماية الفرنسية : الوضعية الداخلية وتحديات العلاقات الخارجية، 1894-1912|date=2009|publisher=Dār Abī Raqrāq lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr|lccn=2010332729|oclc=670240169}}</ref> whom France also opposed.


Harris thereafter toned down his hostility to France, though he continued to press for international efforts to assist Morocco's modernisation.<ref>Fisher, p. 157</ref> He came to admire the efficiency of the administration of ] and was scathing of the maladministration of ]. His role was not always helpful to the British government as he periodically undermined the efforts of British diplomats in Morocco; some regarded him as a useful ally and go-between, thanks to his extensive contacts, while others reviled him.<ref>Fisher, p. 158</ref> Harris thereafter toned down his hostility to France, though he continued to press for international efforts to assist Morocco's modernisation.{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=157}} He came to admire the efficiency of the administration of ] and was scathing of the maladministration of ]. His role was not always helpful to the British government as he periodically undermined the efforts of British diplomats in Morocco; some regarded him as a useful ally and go-between, thanks to his extensive contacts, while others reviled him.{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=158}} France was duly grateful for Harris's efforts on its behalf and awarded him the '']'' and the title of "Commander of the ''Oiussam Alaouite'' of Morocco".{{sfn|Fisher|Best|2011|p=156}} His travel writing also earned him a fellowship from the ]. He was far from modest about his achievements; as the editor of a re-edition of his book ''Morocco That Was'' puts it, he "loved to tell stories, especially about himself", to the point that "it is hard to distinguish the truth from the legend"; he "loved to make his own part in any yarn he was telling into a hymn about his own cleverness, cunning, bravery, popularity, and importance. All his geese had to be swans and his over-vivid imagination made sure that his listeners were never allowed to forget this."{{sfn|Zur Mühlen|2010|p=209}} Harris was journeying east across the Mediterranean when he had a stroke. The ship he was traveling on put in at Malta and he was taken to the King George V hospital where he died on 4 April 1933. His body was taken back to Tangier and he was buried there at the ].

France was duly grateful for Harris's efforts on its behalf and awarded him the '']'' and the title of "Commander of the ''Oiussam Alaouite'' of Morocco".<ref name="Fisher156" /> His travel writing also earned him a fellowship from the ]. He was far from modest about his achievements; as the editor of a re-edition of his book ''Morocco That Was'' puts it, he "loved to tell stories, especially about himself", to the point that "it is hard to distinguish the truth from the legend"; he "loved to make his own part in any yarn he was telling into a hymn about his own cleverness, cunning, bravery, popularity, and importance. All his geese had to be swans and his over-vivid imagination made sure that his listeners were never allowed to forget this."<ref name="ZurMuhlen" /> Harris was journeying east across the Mediterranean when he had a stroke. The ship he was traveling on put in at Malta and he was taken to the King George V hospital where he died on 4 April 1933. His body was taken back to Tangier and he was buried there at the ].


==Villa Harris in Tangier== ==Villa Harris in Tangier==
⚫ In the 1890s Harris erected an expansive villa in the hills east of Tangier, which he used until his death. The structure was later operated as a ], then acquired in the 1960s by ] which used it until 1992. It subsequently fell into disrepair despite designation in 2007 as a building of national historic value.<ref>{{cite web |website=Archnet |title=Villa Walter Harris Museum |url=https://www.archnet.org/sites/14906 }}</ref> It was eventually renovated and opened on {{date|2021/03/16}} as a museum, with exhibits donated by Moroccan art collector El Khalil Belguench that include works by ], ], {{ill|Edy Legrand|fr}}, ], ], {{ill|Mohamed Ben Allal|fr}}, ], and ].<ref>{{cite web |website=Journey Beyond Travel |author=Lucas Peters |title=An Inside Look at the New Villa Harris Museum of Tangier |date=25 March 2021 |url=https://www.journeybeyondtravel.com/blog/villa-harris-museum.html }}</ref>

⚫ In the 1890s Harris erected an expansive villa in the hills east of Tangier, which he used until his death. The structure was later operated as a ], then acquired in the 1960s by ] which used it until 1992. It subsequently fell into disrepair despite designation in 2007 as a building of national historic value.<ref>{{cite web |website=Archnet |title=Villa Walter Harris Museum |url=https://www.archnet.org/sites/14906 }}</ref> It was eventually renovated and opened on {{date|2021/03/16}} as a museum, with exhibits donated by Moroccan art collector El Khalil Belguench that include works by ], ], {{ill|Edy Legrand|fr}}, ], ], {{ill|Mohamed Ben Allal|fr}}, ], and ].<ref>{{cite web |website=Journey Beyond Travel |author=Lucas Peters |title=An Inside Look at the New Villa Harris Museum of Tangier |url=https://www.journeybeyondtravel.com/blog/villa-harris-museum.html }}</ref>


==Works== ==Works==
⚫ ]

* (Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1889)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''The Land of the African Sultan: Travels in Morocco, 1887, 1888, and 1889'' by Walter B. Harris|journal=The Athenæum|issue=3247|pages=79–80|date=January 18, 1890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B21GAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA79–80}}</ref> * (Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1889)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''The Land of the African Sultan: Travels in Morocco, 1887, 1888, and 1889'' by Walter B. Harris|journal=The Athenæum|issue=3247|pages=79–80|date=January 18, 1890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B21GAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA79–80}}</ref>
* (William Blackwood, 1893) * (William Blackwood, 1893)
* (William Blackwood, 1895)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Tafilet: The Narrative of a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the North-west Sahara'' by Walter B. Harris|journal=The Athenaeum|issue= 3559|date=11 January 1896|pages=46–47|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c3469032;view=1up;seq=62}}</ref> * (William Blackwood, 1895)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Tafilet: The Narrative of a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the North-west Sahara'' by Walter B. Harris|journal=The Athenaeum|issue= 3559|date=11 January 1896|pages=46–47|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c3469032;view=1up;seq=62}}</ref>
* (William Blackwood & Son, 1896) * (William Blackwood & Son, 1896)
* ''Morocco That Was'' (William Blackwood & Sons, 1921; new edition by ] in 2002) * ''Morocco That Was'' (William Blackwood & Sons, 1921; new edition by ] in 2002)
Line 41: Line 49:
* ''East Again: The Narrative of a Journey in the Near, Middle and Far East'' (Butterworth, 1933) * ''East Again: The Narrative of a Journey in the Near, Middle and Far East'' (Butterworth, 1933)


A diary belonging to Harris describing his travels in Europe during the 1880s or 1890s is held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.<ref>{{Cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS161|access-date=2021-03-01|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref> A diary belonging to Harris describing his travels in Europe during the 1880s or 1890s is held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS161|title=European travel journal of Walter Burton Harris|publisher=Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham|access-date=2 March 2024}}</ref>


==Gallery==
==In popular culture==
<gallery widths="180px" heights="180px">

⚫ Walter Burton Harris (1866-1933), by John Lavery.jpg|Walter Burton Harris by ]
* Harris is played by ] in a 2000 episode of '']'', in which he saves ] from a slave market in ].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190535/|publisher=IMDB|access-date=21 October 2013}}</ref>
Villa Harris (Tangier) in 2024.jpg|Villa Harris in Tangier
⚫ III Church of St. Andrew's, Tangier, Morocco (2).jpg|]
⚫ Grave of Walter Burton Harris.jpg|Harris's grave in the churchyard of St Andrews
</gallery>


==See also== ==See also==
Line 54: Line 66:


==Sources== ==Sources==
* {{Cite book
|last=al-Khudaymī |first=Alāl
|title=الحركة الحفيظية، أو، المغرب قبيل فرض الحماية الفرنسية : الوضعية الداخلية وتحديات العلاقات الخارجية، 1894-1912
|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/670240169
⚫ |date=2009
|publisher=Dār Abī Raqrāq lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr
|lccn=2010332729
|oclc=670240169
}}
* {{cite book * {{cite book
|last=Best |first=Anthony |editor1-last=Fisher|editor1-first=John|editor2-last=Best|editor2-first=Antony
|title=On the Fringes of Diplomacy: Influences on British Foreign Policy, 1800–1945 |title=On the Fringes of Diplomacy: Influences on British Foreign Policy, 1800–1945
|chapter=An Eagle Whose Wings Are Not Always Easy To Clip: Walter Burton Harris
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4xU3DAAAQBAJ&q=Walter+Burton+Harris+homosexuality&pg=PA155
|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
⚫ |date = 2016
|year=2011
⚫ |publisher=]
|isbn=9781409401193
|location=London
}}
|isbn=9781317085782
* {{cite book
⚫ }}
|last=Harris |first=Walter Burton
|title=Morocco That Was
|url=http://www.travelbooks.co.uk/shop-online-books/morocco-that-was
|year=2002
⚫ |publisher=Eland Books
|isbn=
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Jeal|first=Tim
|title=Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts
|publisher=Yale University Press
|year=2007
|isbn=9780300125139
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Zur Mühlen|first=Hermynia
|title=The End and the Beginning: The Book of My Life
|volume=1
|publisher=Open Book Publishers
|year=2010
|isbn=9781906924270
}}

==External links==
* {{Librivox author |id=17465}}

{{Authority control}} {{Authority control}}


Line 68: Line 115:
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
]
] ]

Latest revision as of 05:34, 25 September 2024

Walter Burton Harris
Harris by Sir John Lavery (1907)
Born(1866-08-29)August 29, 1866
DiedApril 4, 1933(1933-04-04) (aged 66)
NationalityBritish
OccupationJournalist

Walter Burton Harris (29 August 1866 – 4 April 1933) was a journalist, writer, traveller and socialite who achieved fame for his writings on Morocco, where he worked for many years as special correspondent for The Times. He settled in the country at the age of 19, eventually building himself a fine villa in Tangier where he lived for much of his life. His linguistic skills and physical appearance enabled him to pose successfully as a native Moroccan, travelling to parts of the country regarded as off-limits to foreigners. He wrote a number of well-regarded books and articles on his travels in Morocco and other countries in the Near and Far East. Harris also played a significant, though not always constructive, role in the European diplomatic intrigues that affected Morocco around the turn of the 20th century.

Early career and travels

Harris was born in London as the second son of a prosperous shipping and insurance broker, Frederick W. Harris. His siblings included Sir Austin Edward Harris, who became a noted banker, Frederick Leverton Harris, a British Member of Parliament, and pianist and composer Clement Harris, who was killed in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. He was educated at Harrow School and (briefly) at Cambridge University and had already managed to travel around the world by the age of 18.

In 1887 he accompanied a British diplomatic mission to Morocco and settled in Tangier at the age of 19. He was briefly married to Lady Mary Savile, the daughter of the 4th Earl of Mexborough from 1898 to 1906, but the marriage was annulled on the grounds of non-consummation. He lived an openly homosexual, tending towards paedophilic, lifestyle thereafter, though this was little hindrance in the social milieu of Tangier at the time. He was independently wealthy, living off a personal allowance and a stipend from The Times, and was an ambitious social climber who associated with royalty and high-ranking politicians.

Harris was a fluent speaker of French, Spanish and Moroccan Arabic, and his physical features were such that he could pass for a native Moroccan. This enabled him to travel undetected into the interior of Morocco, which was at the time off-limits to outsiders, and thus see and describe places that no European had been to. During his travels he disguised himself as an inhabitant of the Rif, looking (as The Times put it) like "the complete fanatical-looking type, with shaven head but for a foot-long lock hanging from the crown, red guncase for turban, short brown jelab, bare reddish-tanned neck and legs, carrying a long native musket, and glancing furtively as he went, just as such men from home do."

He soon won the respect of the Moroccans for his exploits and made some unlikely friends, such as the mountain chieftain Raisuni who repeatedly fought the Moroccan government (and later the Spanish) during the first 25 years of the 20th century. Harris was captured and briefly imprisoned by Raisuni, regaining his freedom via a prisoner exchange, but came to establish a friendship with the chieftain and later wrote admiringly about him. He was also a confidant of at least three Moroccan sultans and built himself a fine home in Tangier, the Villa Harris.

Journalistic career and political involvement

Harris began writing for The Times in 1887 and became a permanent correspondent from 1906, at a time when Morocco was becoming a focus for conflict between the European powers. He had a first-hand view of the dynastic conflicts and political weaknesses that culminated in Morocco becoming a protectorate of France and Spain in 1912 and chronicled the events of that period in a series of articles for The Times, as well as writing a number of books on his travels in Morocco. He also travelled further afield, visiting Egypt, the Near East and the Far East. He served as a special correspondent in the Yemen in 1892 and in Athens in 1915, where he caused a dispute between King Constantine I of Greece and Eleftherios Venizelos after writing articles critical of the latter for The Times. He claimed to have worked for Admiralty intelligence during the latter part of the First World War.

He played an active part in the international disputes in Morocco, using his access to high-ranking Moroccan figures to influence the course of events. Britain had long been Morocco's dominant trading partner and Harris initially opposed France's ambitions to play a bigger role in the country. He believed that Morocco's independence should be preserved and that the country should be helped to modernise itself and overcome the endemic disorder that plagued it. He therefore helped initially to support the Germans, who likewise opposed French involvement in Morocco, until he was instructed in 1905 by The Times' foreign editor Valentine Chirol – who was closely linked to the British Foreign Office – that it was necessary to support the French. The Entente Cordiale, signed in 1904, clearly assigned Egypt and Morocco to the spheres of influence of Britain and France respectively. In the Hafidiya coup, Harris attacked the Makhzen of Abd al-Hafid in The Times,, whom France also opposed.

Harris thereafter toned down his hostility to France, though he continued to press for international efforts to assist Morocco's modernisation. He came to admire the efficiency of the administration of French Morocco and was scathing of the maladministration of Spanish Morocco. His role was not always helpful to the British government as he periodically undermined the efforts of British diplomats in Morocco; some regarded him as a useful ally and go-between, thanks to his extensive contacts, while others reviled him. France was duly grateful for Harris's efforts on its behalf and awarded him the Légion d'honneur and the title of "Commander of the Oiussam Alaouite of Morocco". His travel writing also earned him a fellowship from the Royal Geographical Society. He was far from modest about his achievements; as the editor of a re-edition of his book Morocco That Was puts it, he "loved to tell stories, especially about himself", to the point that "it is hard to distinguish the truth from the legend"; he "loved to make his own part in any yarn he was telling into a hymn about his own cleverness, cunning, bravery, popularity, and importance. All his geese had to be swans and his over-vivid imagination made sure that his listeners were never allowed to forget this." Harris was journeying east across the Mediterranean when he had a stroke. The ship he was traveling on put in at Malta and he was taken to the King George V hospital where he died on 4 April 1933. His body was taken back to Tangier and he was buried there at the Church of St Andrew.

Villa Harris in Tangier

In the 1890s Harris erected an expansive villa in the hills east of Tangier, which he used until his death. The structure was later operated as a casino, then acquired in the 1960s by Club Med which used it until 1992. It subsequently fell into disrepair despite designation in 2007 as a building of national historic value. It was eventually renovated and opened on 16 March 2021 as a museum, with exhibits donated by Moroccan art collector El Khalil Belguench that include works by Jules Jacques Veyrassat, Jacques Majorelle, Edy Legrand [fr], Claudio Bravo, Muhammad Ben Ali Ribati, Mohamed Ben Allal [fr], Ahmed Yacoubi, and Mohamed Hamri.

Works

A diary belonging to Harris describing his travels in Europe during the 1880s or 1890s is held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ Fisher & Best 2011, p. 155.
  2. ^ "Obituary – Mr. Walter Harris". The Times. 5 April 1933. p. 16.
  3. ^ Zur Mühlen 2010, p. 209.
  4. Jeal 2007, p. 106.
  5. Harris 2002, p. ?.
  6. ^ Fisher & Best 2011, p. 156.
  7. al-Khudaymī 2009, p. ?.
  8. Fisher & Best 2011, p. 157.
  9. Fisher & Best 2011, p. 158.
  10. "Villa Walter Harris Museum". Archnet.
  11. Lucas Peters (25 March 2021). "An Inside Look at the New Villa Harris Museum of Tangier". Journey Beyond Travel.
  12. "Review of The Land of the African Sultan: Travels in Morocco, 1887, 1888, and 1889 by Walter B. Harris". The Athenæum (3247): 79–80. 18 January 1890.
  13. "Review of Tafilet: The Narrative of a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the North-west Sahara by Walter B. Harris". The Athenaeum (3559): 46–47. 11 January 1896.
  14. "European travel journal of Walter Burton Harris". Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. Retrieved 2 March 2024.

Sources

External links

Categories: