Hotel Cecil (Tangier, Morocco)

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The Hotel Cecil or The Cecil is one of the oldest hotels in Tangier, Morocco. The hotel was built around the 1890s. The Hotel Cecil de Tangier, already closed, was located on Av Spain number 11, current Av. Mohamed VI.

A Brief Social History of The Hotel Cecil, Tangier by Andrew Clandermond and Dr. Terence MacCarthy

On the Boulevard d’Espagne (recently renamed Boulevard Mohamed VI), Tangier, a crumbling somewhat eclectic façade of hybrid classical and Moorish architectural styles is all that remains to be seen of the Hotel Cecil, once one of the truly great Hotels of North Africa. For several decades it was patronized by members of European Royal Families, aristocrats, diplomats, high ranking military and naval offices, colonial bishops, artists and writers. Its long lost guest register was a veritable Almanach de Gotha of the Royal and noble families of the Belle Epoch and a Who’s Who of the rich and famous (see Appendix). The Cecil was, to Tangier, what the Hotel Danelli is to Venice, Shepherd’s Hotel to Cairo, or the Pera Palace to Constantinople, a byword for elegance, sophistication and discretion! Quite simply there was no better address for visitors to the White City to stay at.

Although the Continental Hotel, built in the 1865, claims to have been Tangier’s first the Cecil might, perhaps, with some justification, claim an at least equal precedence, for the newspaper report of its inauguration, printed in Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa on February 25, 1899, makes it clear that it had merely replaced an earlier building: “The inauguration of the Hotel Cecil, situated on the beach, took place on Saturday evening. The building which was formerly occupied by Senor Recio’s Universal Hotel has been thoroughly reconstructed and the newly fitted hotel is under the able management of Mr. John Sacone.”

From the moment it opened its doors the Cecil was considered the best hotel in the city. In advertisements it was described as: “A first class modern hotel, built expressly for the purpose, situated in its own grounds on the grand beach, five minutes walk from the pier, in the centre of the new town, and has splendid views of the Straits and surrounding countryside. Commodious and well ventilated rooms with the latest sanitary arrangements. Suites of rooms with private bath, toilet and w.c. Spacious Dining, Drawing, Reading and Billiard Rooms. Electric light throughout. Bathrooms on every floor. Large terraces, kiosk, lawn tennis court. Motor-bus meets all steamers.” (76)

Given such facilities the Cecil was a success au commencement! Tangier, which was becoming a fashionable winter resort almost rivaling Monte Carlo, was increasingly attractive to fashionable and rich traveler who sought winter-sun in a more exotic setting than the Cote d’Azur. Once an hotel had established a reputation amongst that class for luxury, comfort and a certain discretion its’ fortune was assured. Just how rapidly the Cecil acquired such a reputation is underlined by the fact that within a year of opening it counted H.R.H. Prince Henri d’Orleans, among its guests (2). Prince Henri d’Orleans (1867-1901) was the son of H.R.H. Prince Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orleans, and the grandson of His Majesty King Louis-Philippe I of the French. A distinguished traveler and explorer he discovered the source of the Irrawaddy and was the recipient of the gold medal of the Geographic Society of Paris in 1890. He died, unmarried, a few months after leaving Tangier, at Saigon on August 9, 1901.

The very fact that Prince Henri had been a guest in the Cecil gave it an undeniable cachet in high Society, and this is borne out by the fact that for several decades the hotel was patronized by the bluest blood of Europe (see Appendix). In 1907, for example, the guests included H.R.H. Princess Margaret Mathilde of Saxony (1863-1933), the daughter of His Majesty King George I of Saxony, and sister of King Friedrich-August III. Her visit was eagerly reported in Al Moghreb Al-Aksa in the April 6th 1907 issue: “Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Mathilde, sister of His Majesty the King of Saxony, and suite, arrived this morning from Seville, via Algeciras, for a short stay at the Hotel Cecil. Her Royal Highness was received at the pier by His Excellency Dr Rosen, German Minister, and other members of the Imperial German Legation.” (55). Exactly one week later Her Highness Princess Schronburg of Saxony also reserved rooms in the Cecil (56), as did several Spanish Grandees, the Marques de Lerta and the Conde del Fresno (57) and the Marques and Marquesa de Almodovar (58). It is not unlikely that the German Princesses’ visits to the White City had been inspired, at least in part, by the Emperor William II of Germany’s dramatic, politically motivated, saber rattling visit to Tangier the preceding year.

The very fact that the Cecil was patronized by people of such high status in European aristocratic Society had the effect of popularizing the hotel among their peer group. Diplomats were equally keen to use the hotel’s facilities. Just over a year after Prince Henri d’Orleans visit, in June 1901, the French residents of Tangier chose the Cecil as the venue for an early version of the cocktail party. It was given in honour of their Ambassador: “On Monday night a ‘punch d’honneur’ was offered by the French residents to His Excellency Monsieur Révoil, which was also attended by Rear-Admiral Caillard, the officers of the two French cruisers in port, and the personnel of the French Legation. The kiosk of the Hotel Cecil, were the refreshment was served was decorated with French Flags, flowers and green foliage, and the band of the cruiser Pothau played at intervals. Patriotic speeches of congratulations and a hearty farewell were given to the Minister, and responded to by His Excellency (14). The early twentieth century, when almost all of the European powers were monarchies, was an era during when many diplomats were coincidentally aristocrats, as exemplified by His Excellency the Duque de Tovar, Grandee of Spain and that country’s Ambassador to the Holy See, who was a guest at the Cecil in May 1908 (61).

Even the representatives of the world’s brashest and most proselytizing republic, the United States of America, were enchanted by the Cecil. In August 1902 no less a worthy than Mr. James M. S. Langerman, who was on a diplomatic mission to persuade the Sultan of Morocco to participate at the St. Louis World Fair, booked into the hotel. His arrival was eagerly reported in Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa: “Mr. James M. S. Langerman, Vice-Consul General of the United States of America, and Commissioner General of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, accompanied by Mrs. Langerman, arrived here last Thursday and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.” (31). In a follow-on report published in the same journal in December 1902 its readers learned that: “Mr. Langerman was received by His Majesty the Sultan on Monday evening the 8th instant at the Shereefian Camp, near Fez, whence he was escorted by 20 horsemen expressly sent for that purpose. Mr. Langerman has been commissioned to obtain His Majesty’s consent to have a proper exhibit of Moroccan products, arts, industry, etc., at the Louisiana Exhibition. We understand that he is quiet confident of the final success of the Moroccan session in the magnificent World’s Fair.”(35).

Mr. Langerman finally booked out of the Cecil in January 1904: “confident that the Moroccan section in the St. Louis Exhibition will constitute the best foundation for future commerce between the United States and Morocco, thus strengthening the ties of friendship and cordial relations happily existing between the two countries.” (35). It was as well that the hotel boasted its own stable block for the departing diplomat took with him “four beautiful Barbary horses he lately bought from Fez, three of which, with magnificent saddles, were presented to him by His Majesty the Sultan.” (35). Perhaps it was Langerman who recommended the Cecil to his compatriot and fellow politician, Congressman the Hon. W. Burke Cochran, who booked into the hotel in May 1906 (52).

An as yet unresolved question is whether or not Sir Winston Churchill, K.G., was once a guest at the Cecil. In April 1901 the AL-MOGHREB AL-AKSA referred to a ‘Mr. Churchill’ who had just booked into the hotel (6). Elected as the Member of Parliament for Oldham in 1900, parliament would have been in recess for the Easter holiday in April 1901, the very period of the mysterious Mr. Churchill’s visit to the hotel. Unfortunately, as neither the guests Christian-name not initials were published, it is impossible to establish if this entry is a reference to Britain’s famous World War II Prime Minister or not. However, considering other factors, political as well as social, he may well have been. Churchill was keenly interested in the ‘Moroccan Question’, and particularly in the French, Spanish, and Kaiser William II’s colonial designs on the country, which threatened Gibraltar and hence British Naval supremacy in the Mediterranean! He might well have paid a low-key visit to Tangier, the better to access the political situation. Churchill was also a friend and pupil of Sir John Lavery, the Irish society painter, who was certainly a patron of the Cecil in 1906 (48, 50). Furthermore, Sir Winston made several later trips to Tangier during the late 1940s and 1950s when he was a client of the Hotel Rif, a few hundred yards distance from the Cecil which, by then, had ceased to be considered fashionable. On balance it is entirely possible that Sir Winston Churchill was infact one of the Cecil’s earliest patrons.

Langerman’s diplomatic mission, to encourage the Sultan to authorize Moroccan participation at the St. Louis World fair, was indicative that, like it or not, the Shereefian Empire was about to undergo forcible modernisation. The French government had already embarked upon a policy of ‘political penetration’ or, more accurately, a creeping economic colonization which culminated, in 1912, in the country being effectively partitioned into French and Spanish ‘protectorates’. It is interesting to speculate whether Langerman met a certain Monsieur Hermand, a shadowy individual, perhaps an agent of French intelligence, who was very much to the fore in realizing the political objectives of the Third Republic. We know, from an entry in Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, that he was actually a guest at the Cecil during Langerman’s stay, and it is entirely possible that he accompanied the Vice-Consul on his visit to Fez: “Monsieur Hermand, a French electrical engineer, who lately returned from Fez, is staying at the Hotel Cecil, and will shortly proceed to Rabat on a commission to establish wireless telegraphy in this country.” (34).

The Cecil also attracted painters and writers of some repute, of the former the most notable was the great Irish portrait painter, Sir John Lavery (1856-1941), R.A., R.H.A., R.S.A., who was a guest, twice, in 1906, immediately preceding and following his famous painting trip to Fez (48, 50). Another British artist of some standing who patronized the hotel was George Owen Wynne Apperley (1884-1960), R.I. (23) as did the great Spanish Orientalist painter, Mariano Bertuchi (1884-1955), who founded L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Tetouan (15). Both were guests in 1901. A year earlier the noted British writer and Moroccan historian and fluent Arab speaking Mr. Budget Meakin was one of the first clients of the Cecil (3) as indeed was an even more bizarre character, Mr. Walter Burton Harris F.S.A.

Born in London in 1866, the second son of Frederick Waler Harris, D.L., J.P., a wealthy Quaker ship owner, and educated at Harrow he was a friend of Oscar Wilde and the Godfather of Cyril Wilde, the playwright’s eldest son. Walter Harris settled in Tangier in 1886, anxious to escape from the Victorian moralizing of London Society. His attraction to Tangier must, at least in part, have been due to the indulgent sexual mores of the Moors. His own unconventional sexual practices would certainly have attracted less criticism in the moral morass of the White city’s expatriate colony than they would in Mayfair or Belgravia. Even so, several contemporary sources state that he once so mistreated a Negro boy servant that the unfortunate child died of his injuries.

In 1898, Harris married Lady Mary Saville, daughter of the 4th Earl of Mexborough. Unsurprisingly it was neither a happy nor a fruitful union and the marriage was dissolved in 1906 on the grounds of non-consummation. The embarrassing detail that Harris had taken refuge on top of a wardrobe on their wedding night in order to avoid his wife’s physical advances was widely reported by several London newspapers including THE TIMES which employed him as a journalist!

Reputedly a British spy, Harris was a friend of King Edward VII, and the author of numerous articles on Morocco, many of which were published by the Royal Geographical Society, and several travel logs including ‘THE LAND OF AN AFRICAN SULTAN, TRAVELS IN MOROCCO’ (1888) and MOROCCO THAT WAS (1921). Noted for his refined taste in Moroccan architecture he built the ‘Villa Harris’ at Malabatta from which he was abducted in 1903 by the notorious Moroccan brigand Molay Ahmed El Raisuli. Held captive for three weeks, on his release he abandoned his isolated Villa in favour of a suite of rooms in the Hotel Cecil.

Situated within sight of the Rock of Gibraltar, the most important naval base of the British Empire in the Mediterranean, Tangier was a favoured resort of the garrison officers, colonial administrators and their wives (see Appendix 1). Even the most perfunctory examination of guest lists published in Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa will immediately confirm that the officers were traveling in organized parties. For example in the two-week period between the end of July and mid August 1901 Major Rankin, Captains Cave, Betty, Gamble, Whitloch, Zaras, and Lieutenants James, Fanchawe, and Mortimer were registered as guests of the Cecil (18, 19, 20). The attraction was, of course, that Tangier offered a myriad of sporting attractions to young officers that were unavailable on the claustrophobic Rock, whether from Pig-sticking in the diplomatic forest, hunting with the Tangier Tent Club, bathing, tennis, and even polo.

Tangier also offered the opportunity for bored young officers to escape from the moral strait-jacket of garrison life on a desolate rock invested with prim, proper, puritanical and priggish middle-class females intent on policing their morals. And, alas, Tangier ladies were sometimes not as virtuous as they might have been. One of the hotel’s earliest guests, in 1901, was Mrs. DeVere MacLean (8), the first wife of Kaid, afterwards Sir, Harry Aubrey DeVere MacLean, K.C.G.B. Of an extremely swarthy complexion she had been born Catherine Coe, of mixed Gibraltarian and Irish ancestry. Rather unflatteringly nicknamed “the Negress” by her enemies, who were as doubtful of her racial as they were of her moral purity, she married MacLean in 1882. In 1905 their daughter, discovering her mother in bed with her own fiancé, a young Gibraltarian subaltern, placed a chair against the door, blocking their exit, and sent for her father. Faced with such indisputable proof of Mrs. DeVere MacLean’s blatant immorality he drove her from their home and immediately instituted divorce proceedings on the basis of what was then euphemistically called ‘criminal conversation’, which is to say adultery! Mrs. DeVere MacLean accordingly had the very dubious ‘honour’ of becoming the first member of Tangier’s British community to be divorced for immorality! Whether she had behaved with equal indiscretion with either of the young Officers who were her fellow guests that week at the Cecil, Captain Locke, R.A., Lieutenant R. Betts-Brown, R.A., is a matter of mere speculation, but, if so, doubtlessly she believed that she could rely on the discretion of the hotel management.

More senior Officers and their wives were equally delighted to escape the stiff, stultifying, parochial colonial society of Gibraltar in order to enjoy the raffish charms of the White City’s notoriously eccentric expatriate society. General Sir Wilsone Blacke, K.C.B., and Lady Black, and General Nicholson made multiple visits to the Cecil (24, 25, 27, 30 60) which was also patronized by high raking Naval Officers including Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Tooting and Lady Tooting, and Admiral Sir Reginald Hall and Lady Hall (69, 83). Gradually the Cecil acquired somewhat the character of a British club, albeit one decorated ‘a la Raj’ rather than ‘a la St. James’! Indeed the hotel, as depicted in Edwardian period postcards, was furnished in the style of an exclusive Indian Hill Station Club. Its drawing room, boasted numerous, comfortably upholstered, cushion covered sofas, rosewood Islamic octagonal occasional tables, richly inlaid with complicated ivory or bone geometrical patterns, hanging enameled brass lamps, and walls decorated with crossed sabers and riffles, none of which interior decorators’ whimsies would not have looked at all out of place in the smarter clubs at Simla or Ootacamund, but then much of what we tend to consider ‘Raj’ or ‘Moghol style’ is essentially Arabic in derivation.

For more than two centuries the British military class has been closely associated with the Freemason movement and thus, given that the Cecil had acquired the character of a military club, it is hardly surprising that the hotel played an important role in the establishment of Freemasonry in Morocco. There had been an earlier attempt, in 1882, to found a Lodge in Tangier. According to a brief article in THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS the Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa Lodge was established in that year in the White City by two Muslims, three Jews, four Spanish Roman Catholics (who were automatically excommunicated from their Church), and several English and Canadian Protestants resident in Gibraltar! The Lodge appears to have failed within a decade for in 1902 a second and more successful attempt was made to constitute a Tangier Lodge. According to an article published in AL-MOGHREB AL-AKSA on August 23, 1902: “A large number of Freemasons arrived this afternoon by the S.S. Gibel Tarik for the purpose of the consecration of a lodge S.C at the Hotel Cecil.” (32). It was typical of the discretion of the hotel management, and the anonymity preserved by Freemasons, that the guest list was not published in that week’s edition of the local newspaper!

If Freemasonry may be considered a sort of pseudo religion of ‘occultist universalism’ the Cecil was no less popular with more bona fide clergymen (see Appendix 1). According to an article published in AL-MOGHREB AL-AKSA on December 2. 1905, the Rt. Reverend Dr Collins, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe arrived in Tangier “aboard His Majesty’s Torpedo Boat, No. 96” in order to consecrate the recently completed Saint Andrew’s Anglican Church. On the following afternoon “The Reverend and Mrs. More were ‘at home’ at the Hotel Cecil on Monday afternoon when a large number of the British community was invited to meet the Lord Bishop of Gibraltar. From 4.30 p.m. a constant stream of visitors arrived, everyone being evidently anxious to take the rare opportunity afforded them of meeting together. Mr. and Mrs. Moore, with the Bishop, received their guests in the Drawing Room, where each of them was introduced to his Lordship who charmed everyone with his kindly and gracious manner, and contributed so very much to the success and enjoyment of the afternoon.” (45). Among the guests were some of the most significant figures in British expatriate society including Lady Kirby-Green, widow of Sir William Kirby-Green, K.C.M.G., British Minister to Morocco (1886-1891) and the British Consul Mr. H. E. White (45).

The elegance of the Cecil made it a very desirable venue for social events. According to Philip Abensur, ‘TANGIER ENTRE ORIENT ET OCCIDENT’, 2009, at a banquet given in the hotel by the Commission of Hygiene (a body which subsequenly developed into the Legislative Council of the Tangier International Zone) the lavish menu included: “Soup a la tète de veau, mayonnaise de poison, filet de bœuf aux champignons, asperges au beurre fondu, dinde farcie rôtie, haricots vert à la française, pommes de terres nouvelles, salade de saison, glace à la vanille, biscuits dessert, café, liqueurs”! Doubtlessly it was the skill of the hotel’s chefs which made its’ restaurant one of the most popular in Tangier. A glowing report published in THE TANGIER GAZETTE on December 24, 1924 certainly stressed the delights of dining à la Cecil: “The excellent fare offered by the Hotel Cecil on Christmas Day encouraged several people to give dinner parties there. Over 60 people sat down to dinner which was accompanied by much laughter and fun. The evening ended with a dance which was very well attended and much enjoyed. The Hotel was splendidly decorated and the large fires and tastefully shaded lights helped to produce a very charming effect.” (95).

Several prestigious local societies including the British Chamber of Commerce (77), the Drag Hounds (96) and the Tangier Hunt (97) patronized the Cecil. Perhaps the Swansong of its heyday as the city’s most fashionable hotel was the Hunt Ball which it hosted in April, 1930: “Last Tuesday night at the Cecil Hotel a Hunt Ball was given as the coming out party of the newly formed Hunt Club, and partly as a means for collecting funds for the maintenance of the Tangier Hounds, which have hitherto been supported by private subscription only. The Drawing Room of the Hotel was cleared for dancing, and as was most appropriate, hung with bridles, polo sticks, etc., and a few saddles were variously disposed about the room. Music was dispensed by a string orchestra who played extraordinarily well, not only the Fox Trot and Waltzes, but also Paul Jones and Strip the Willow, both of which dances proved to be very good fun and greatly enjoyed. An appetizing selection of cakes and sandwiches were laid out in the dining room with cup of two kinds to wash them down. The ball finished at One, rather an early hour seemingly for Tangier, but this time was fixed out of consideration for those who were going out Pig-sticking camp on the following day. A most successful show and very well attended by the English colony as well as certain officers from H.M.S. Tourmaline and H.M.S. Splendid anchored in the Bay” (97). Ominously, for the future of the Cecil, the same edition of THE TANGIER GAZETTE which reported the Hunt Ball carried an advertisement which announced the forthcoming opening of the Hotel El Minzah (98).

Two events which occurred almost simultaneously augured the rapid eclipse of the Cecil as Tangier’s leading hotel, the first was the opening the Lord Bute’s luxurious El Minzah, and the second, no less important, was a change in management. Although, at the time, the latter event might have seemed much the less important of the two, the editor of THE TANGIER GAZETTE had some inkling of its real import and clearly foresaw the potential damage it might cause: “October 18th 1930, It is with great regret that we hear that Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien are leaving the Cecil Hotel this week. Mrs. O’Brien has for so many years done so much to make the Hotel a success that it will require a strong personality to retain the position. We understand that Senor Don Marchena is to act as director, La Senora Marchena being the heiress of the late Mr. Eugene Chapory.” (99).

It is impossible to discover eighty years after this event why the efficient Mr.O’Brien and his socially popular wife resigned as directors of the Cecil after “many years”, but one might posit that they were ‘head-hunted’ by the Bute family! There is evidence to suggest this. In 1923 “Lord Crighton Stuart, M.P.,”( more properly Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart, M.P., for Cheshire) the younger brother of the 4th Marquess of Bute, founder of the El Minzah, was listed as a guest at the Cecil (66). He undoubtedly met Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien and as, even then, his brother was planning the construction of the El Minzah, and noting just how professional and socially popular the couple was, he may have decided to poach them. What is indisputable is that within a few months of leaving the Cecil the O’Briens were appointed as directors of the Grand Hotel Villa Valentina, part of Bute’s Rentistica Group (105). Given the couple’s social skills and popularity, especially among the members of the British Colony, they were able to attract to the Villa Valentina the patronage of many of the Cecil’s most valued customers and societies. Thus, for example, the Tangier Hunt Ball, in January 1932, was held not in the Cecil but at the Villa Valentina (103). The advertisements of the Valentina published in THE TANGIER GAZETTE made much of the fact that the hotel was under the management of “Mr. and Mrs. T. Q. O’Brien” (105).

Mrs. O’Brien seems to have been particularly well liked by Tangier Society and in press references to events held in the Valentina she was frequently singled out for praise: “April 23, 1932, a dance was given in aid of the funds for the Peoples’ Dispensary for Sick Animals at the Hotel Valentina on the 14th instant. It was a great success and much enjoyed by all present. The Committee of the P. D. S. A. desire to accord their warmest thanks to Mrs. O’Brien who organized matters so excellenly.” (106). It was doubtless Mrs. O’Brien who gained for the Valentina the patronage of the British Women’s Association (107, 109, 117), Tangier Friends of Music (108), and the Oversea’s League (111). She seemed irrepressibly inventive in promoting the hotel even using her membership of the Tangier branch of the Tail-Waggers’ Club to do so: “We are informed that the Tail Waggers’ Club has already passed the half million mark on the British register. But there still exist another 3 million dogs in Great Britain that have not yet joined the Club. We wonder how many Tail-Waggers there are in Tangier? Mrs. O’Brien, the popular manageress of the Hotel Villa Valentina, has the distinction of her dog Ju Ju, bearing the sign No. 1 on its medal. The subscription to the Tail-Waggers’ Club is half a crown per annum per dog. Subscriptions may be sent to Mrs. O’Brien, c/o the Hotel Villa Valentina.” (115).

Mrs. O’Brien not only excelled in manipulating the local press, but was also an intelligent business woman and innovative manageress. In December 1932, according to a report in THE TANGIER GAZETTE, a Boxing Day Ball was held at the Valentina “by the popular management, Mr. and Mrs. T. Q. O’Brien and the guests, who were many, came early and stayed late, and there was a general consensus that not for a long day had a jollier show been held in Tangier.” (110). Shortly thereafter she began to give Moorish Dinners at the hotel. The first of these, held in October, 1933 was attended by: “nearly 60 persons (who) took their seats - some with difficulty, for it is not easy to sit cross-legged when one has passed the first flush of youth! The ballroom had been tastefully arranged by Mrs. O’Brien with long divans having in front of them low tables on which the Moorish food was served . . . An additional touch of colour was given to an already bright and animated scene by the presence of a Moorish maiden dressed in all her resplendent robes. The dinner was followed by a dance in the ballroom, and the whole night’s entertainment was voted by all those present to be a great success.” (115). Continuing her triumph, the indefatigable Mrs. O’Brien gave another ball in March 1933 at which, “by kind permission of Rear-Admiral James, the band of H.M.S. Hood will play. Admission by invitation only.” (112).

The O’Brien’s proved so successful at the Valentina that in February 1934 they were appointed joint-managers of Lord Bute’s Grand Hotel Villa de France (118). By that date no reference to, or advertisement for, the Cecil had appeared in THE TANGIER GAZETTE since the O’Brien’s had left its employment. Their successors, the Marchena’s, appear to have been complete business failures and social non-entities to boot. They no longer published the hotel’s guest list in the local press, a mistake the O’Brien’s did not make, carefully submitting the Valentina’s weekly to THE TANGIER GAZETTE (104), and relentlessly advertising the hotel’s facilities and their own management: “Grand Hotel Valentina. A first class All-British hotel, management Mr. and Mrs. T. Q. Brien, thoroughly modernized, all bedrooms fitted hot and cold water, rooms with private baths, self-contained suites, Moorish and English lounges, card room, large terrace, sheltered garden, billiards, ball room, ping pong, tennis, the most attractive American bar in Morocco, excellent cuisine, open to non-residents.” (105)

Whilst the Cecil stagnated under the mismanagement of the Marchenas, the El Minzah went from strength to strength! It too proved innovative in the services it provided to its clients. In 1933 it opened an art gallery, under the management of Monsieur Marcel Levy, which held regular exhibitions (113, 114) and shortly thereafter it began to host weekly Sunday tea dances (116). Its partner hotel, the Villa de France, under the O’Briens, boasted a ladies’ hairdresser offering the “latest and best permanent waving, for One Pound One Shilling.” (113).

By the mid 1930s the Hotel Cecil, which less than a decade earlier had counted His Serene Highness Prince Murat (81), the Marques de Hara (67), the Marquis and Marquise de Crequi-Montford (73), the Marquis de Mos (85), the Marques de Lazengren (72), the Marques de Pontejos (88) the Comte and Comtesse de Harcourt (85), the Conde de Barbate (82), the Comte de Pomeru (81), the Conde and Condessa di San Luis (74), the Marquis of Bute (66), the Earl of Airlie (85), the Earl of Selborne (66), Lord Killanin (82), Viscount Peel (82), Lady Malmesbury (84), Lady Munro (86), Lady de Roebeck (86), and the Baron and Baroness Aersen Beyern (90) amongst its’ clientele, had been completely eclipsed. From the departure of the O’Briens in October 1930 until December 1935 it failed to be mentioned even once in the columns of THE TANGIER GAZETTE. Neither was in mentioned in a survey of the selected years 1940, 1945, 1950 or 1955. Quite simply the Cecil simply ceased to exist so far as ‘International Society’ was concerned. Tragically, what had once been one of the great institutions of Tangier, the favoured venue for the ‘grande monde’, went into a prolonged decline from which it emerged, in the 1960s, as just another non-descript Tangier tourist hotel.

Bibliography

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Footnotes

Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, February 25, 1899: “The inauguration of the Hotel Cecil, situated on the beach, took place on Saturday evening. The building which was formerly occupied by Senor Recio’s Universal Hotel has been thoroughly reconstructed, and the newly fitted hotel is under the able management of Mr. John Saccone.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, April 1, 1900: “Prince Henri d’Orleans arrived here from Tunis and Oran on Wednesday, and is staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 30, 1900: Mr. and Mrs. Budget Meakin arrived here on Wednesday morning on the British steamship Arafat, from Liverpool. They are staying at the Hotel Cecil and intend to remain here about a month, during which Mr. Meakin will be busy revising the proofs of his second work on Morocco entitled ‘THE MOORS’ which is to be published in a few weeks. He is also completing his notes for ‘THE LAND OF THE MOORS’ which will follow the above. Mr. Meakin’s mother and sister are now touring in Siberia. They are the first ladies who have ventured into that country in order to personally study the conditions ruling there.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, January 26th, 1901: The contemplated visit to Tanger, for a week, of Dr. Millard of New York, the distinguished American Dentist, is now confirmed. Dr. Millard will arrive here from Gibraltar on Saturday, February 2nd, and may be consulted at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, March 30, 1901: “Hotel Cecil, Passengers arrived from the 23rd to 30th March, Mrs. Greathed, Miss Clive, Miss Cowper, Miss Yates, Mr. Thomas Collier, Miss Blunt, Mr. and Mrs. Gilfoyle, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Ferguson, Mr. Charles Grant Tennant, Mr. F. Heath Stubs, Miss F. Stubs, Mr. A. S. Tetley, Mr. R. B. Ainswith.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, April 13th 1901: “Hotel Cecil, guests, Miss Faraguhane, Mrs. Daubees, Mr. and Mrs. Orton, Miss Orton, Don Juan Garcia, Mr. and Mrs. Giral, Mr. and Mrs. Blythe, Mr. J. J. Keane, MR. CHURCHILL, Mr. C. M. Wells, Mr. A. B; Ramsay, Mr. R.P.L. Brooker, Mr. Lacave, Mr. Desuar, Mr. Descogs, Mr. B. de Verdun, Mr. F. Picabia, Mr. G. Marut, Mr. C. Duval, Mr. Pridhoume, Mr. G. Hardelay, Mr. and Mrs. Blacker, Misses Ward, Mr. W.W. Robertson, Mr. Stanley, Mr. E. Meyers, SN., Mr. Cubbits, Mr. J. H. Peacock, Mr. J. R. Crook, Mrs. Walter Crook.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, April 20th 1901: “Hotel Cecil, Passengers arrived from 13th to the 20th April, Mr. Norman MacLeod, Mr. W. Gladat, Mr. Horold Gillatt, Mr. and Mrs. Boch, Julia Andrews, Mr. and Mrs. Rugeroni, Mr. V. Imossi, Mr. J. Bossano.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, May 4 1901: “Dr Millard, Specialist American Dentist, will be pleased to receive those who may require his services during the coming week, at the Hotel Cecil.” And in the same issue “Hotel Cecil, guests, Mr. K.M. Tormill, Captain Locke, R.A., R. Betts Brown, R.A., J. M. Gatrill, Dr. and Mrs. Mallard, Miss M. Spencer, Miss Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Jacobs, Mrs. De VERE MacLEAN, Mr. N.H. Kisbany.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, May 11 1901: “Among the distinguished visitors of the week we were much pleased to salute Mr. S. L. Bensusan, special correspondent of ‘THE DAILY MAIL’ and other London papers, who has been staying in the Hotel Cecil and has now left Tangier for Madrid.” And in the same issue “Hotel Cecil, guests, Mr. S. L. Bensusan, Mr. A. J. Dawson, Mr. J. H. E. Coad, Mr. and Mrs. S. V. V. Holmer, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, C. J. Lamb, Misses Cleurflyn, Mr. Wm. W. Carshall, C.D. Marshall, Mr. R. Kemmer, C.E. Brightman.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, May 11, 1901: “Hotel Cecil, guests, Mr. Wm. Marshall, Mr. C. D. Marshall, Mr. R. A. Beamer; Mr. and Mrs. Berdier, Mr. A. Bautice, Mr. R. L. Wilson, Mr. Bosworth, Mr. W. H. Robinson, Dr. P. Steiner.”
Al-Moghreb Al Aksa, Saturday, May 25 1901: “Hotel Cecil, passengers arrived from 18th to 25th May, Dr. Steiner, Mr. E. J. Brum, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Tait, Mr. and Mrs. Ormerod, Mr. R. M. Caldiera, Mrs. M. C. Caldiera, Mr. Romano Gomes, Mr. Thomas E. Cornwall, Mr. Neighbour and party.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 1, 1901: Hotel Cecil, guests included Major Elkington and Colonel Bates.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 8, 1901: Hotel Cecil, guests included Mr. and Mrs. Livesey.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 15, 1901: “On Monday night a ‘punch d’honneur’ was offered at the Hotel Cecil by the French residents to His Excellency Monsieur Révoil (the French Ambassador), which was also attended by Rear-Admiral Caillard, the officers of the two French cruisers in port, and the personnel of the French legation. The kiosk of the Hotel Cecil, were the refreshment was served, was decorated with French flags, flowers and green foliage, and the band of the cruiser Pothau played at intervals. Patriotic speeches of congratulations and a hearty farewell were given to the Minister, and responded to by His Excellency.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 15th, 1901: Hotel Cecil guests included Senor Mariano Bertuchi
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, July 20th, 1901: Hotel Cecil guests included J. De Burgh Galway (the Earl of Galway)
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, July 27th, 1901: Hotel Cecil guests included Captain Cave and Captain K. Betty.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 3rd, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included Captain Zarras and Major H. MacLear.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 10th, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included Captain Whitloch and Major Rankin.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 17th, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included Captain Gamble, J. N. James, Lieut. Fanchawe, Lieut. Mortimer.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, September 14th, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included Admiral Brent and the Chevalier Bossano.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, November 16th, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included General Arsenio Linares.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, December 21st, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included Mr. W. H. Apperley.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, January 4th, 1902: “General M. H. and Mrs. Nicholson arrived here from England, via Gibraltar, last Tuesday, and are staying in the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, February 22, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included General and Mrs. Nicholson, Captain Beresford, Colonel Campbell, Major General Grove.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, March 22, 1901, Hotel Cecil guests included Admiral Dowding and Captain Galloway.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 14, 1902, Hotel Cecil guests included General W. Black, C.B., and Mrs. Black, Lieutenant R. Cooke, Major and Mrs. Rankin, Major, Royal Irish Fusiliers, and Mrs. Barclay.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, July 19th 1902: “Senor Marti, Spanish Consul at Gibraltar, arrived here on Tuesday, and is staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, July 26 1902: “Major Crawford, D.A.A.G., Gibraltar, Surgeon Richards, R.N., and Mrs. Richards, and Mr. Joseph Gaggero, who have been staying at the Hotel Cecil, returned to Gibraltar by the S.S. Gibel Tarik on Monday.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 2, 1902: General and Mrs. Nicholson who have been staying here since the beginning of January at the Hotel Cecil, left on Monday morning by the S.S. Gibel Tarik, on their return to England. Major-General McGoun, late Madras Staff Corps, and the Reverend J. Hackett, Chaplain to the Forces, Gibraltar, arrived on Tuesday for a few days and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 9th, 1902: “Mr. James M. S. Langerman, United States Vice Consul-General of America, and Commissioner General Louisiana Purchase Exposition (The St Louis World Fair), accompanied by Mrs. Langerman, arrived here last Thursday and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.” The couple left Tangier September 20.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 23, 1902: “A large number of Freemasons arrived this afternoon by the S.S. Gibel Tarik for the purpose of the consecration of a lodge S.C. at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, September 20: “Mr J. Bennet, Chief of the Gibraltar Police, and Mrs. Bennet, arrived on Thursday afternoon by the S.S. Gibel Tarik, and are staying for a few days at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, December 6, 1902: “Viscount and Viscountess de la Vega, arrived yesterday and are staying for a few days at the Hotel Cecil. . . Monsieur Hermand, French Electrical Engineer, who lately returned from Fez, is staying at the Hotel Cecil, and will shortly proceed to Rabat on commission to establish wireless telegraphy in this country”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, December 20, 1902: “Mr James W. S. Langerman, United States Vice-Consul General, who is on a commission to the Sultan’ Court in connection with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904, was received by H.M. the Sultan on Monday evening the 8th. Inst. At the Shereefian Camp, near Fez, whence he was escorted by 20 horsemen expressly sent by the Sultan. . . January 3, 1903 “Mr. Langerman has been commissioned to obtain H.S. Majesty’s consent to have a proper exhibit of Moroccan products, arts, industry, etc., at the Louisiana Exhibition. We understand that Mr. Langerman is highly elated with the result of his mission and that he is quite confident of the final success of the Moroccan Section in the magnificent World’s Fair. January 10th, 1903: “Mr. James W. S. Langerman, Commissioner General for Morocco of the Louisiana International Exhibition, 1904, left yesterday for Europe, via Gibraltar, on his way to the United States. Having attained as complete a success in his mission to the Moorish Court as there is no precedent to record. Mr. Langerman may well return home quite satisfied, and feel confident that the final result of the Moorish Section in the St. Louis Exhibition will constitute the best foundation for future commerce between the United States and Morocco, thus strengthening the tides of friendship and cordial relations happily existing between the two countries. Mr. Langerman takes with him four beautiful Barbary horses he lately bought from Fez, three of which, with magnificent saddles, etc, were presented to him by H.M. the Sultan. ”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, March 21, 1903: “Lord Teynham, Lady Teynham and The Honourable Miss Iris Dashwood, who were staying at the Hotel Cecil, left here last Monday by the S.S. Telde. S. L. Bensusan, the author of a number of interesting articles on Morocco, and the artist Mr. A. S. Forrest, arrived here on Thursday on a visit to Tangier, and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 27, 1903: “Colonel R.J.F. Banfield, C.B., Assistant Adj. General Gibraltar, and Mrs. Banfield, arrived this afternoon from Gibraltar and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 29, 1903: “Mr. A. Lavarello, Mr. J. de Costa Freire, Consul for Honduras and Mexico at Gibraltar, Mrs. Freire, Mr. Chas S. Rugeroni, Consul for the Argentine Republic, Mrs. Rugeroni, and family, arrived on Tuesday from Gibraltar, and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, April 8, 1905: “Lady and the Misses Wilbraham and Lady Augusta Browne, arrived here on Tuesday from Gibraltar, and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, April 22, 1905: “Herr H. Tonnies, German Vice-Consul at Rabat, returned from leave to Europe this week, is staying in the Hotel Cecil, and shortly proceeding to his post.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, May 27, 1905: “Mr. G. A. Prescott, Consul for Sweden and Norway in Gibraltar, paid a short visit to the city this week, staying in the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 24, 1905: “Commandant Sorela, Naval Attache to the Spanish Legation, accompanied by Senora Sorela and family, arrived on Tuesday and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, August 26, 1905: “Major G .B. M. Rawlinson, and Captain W. E. I. Butler-Bowen, D.C.L. Inf., who have made a visit to this city and stayed in the Hotel Cecil, have left for Gibraltar.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, September 16th 1905: Mr. F. Robson, Colonial Clerk of Works, Gibraltar, and Mrs. Robson, came over on Thursday for a stay at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa: On December 2nd 1905 Dr. Collins, the Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, arrived in Tangier to consecrate the recently completed St Andrew’s church. Arriving aboard “His Majesty’s Torpedo Boat, No.96” he was received at the port by the British Minister. The next day, according to AL- MOGHREB AL –AKSA, “His lordship in full vestments, with mitre, crozier, etc, attended by H.E. the British Minister, the Reverend J.A. Moore, and the churchwardens” performed the consecration ceremony and on the following afternoon the chaplain and Mrs. Moore held a formal “at home” in the Hotel Cecil in honour of the Bishop: “The Reverend and Mrs. Moore were at home at the Hotel Cecil on Monday afternoon when a large number of the British Community were invited to meet the Lord Bishop of Gibraltar. From 4.30 p.m. a constant stream of visitors arrived, everyone being evidently anxious to take the rare opportunity afforded them of meeting together. Mr. and Mrs. Moore, with the Bishop, received their guests in the drawing room, where each of them was introduced to his Lordship who charmed everyone with his kindly and gracious manner, and contributed so very much to the success and enjoyment of the afternoon.” Among the guests were the most significant figures in the British expatriate society, Lady Kirby-Green, widow of Sir William Kirby-Green, K.C.M.G., British Minister to Morocco (1886-1891), and her daughter Feridah Kirby-Green the Lanes, Taylors of Sultan’s Mill House, Taylors, the British Consul Mr. H.E. White and Mrs. White and Miss Ellen Winslow, who had settled in Tangier in 1887, was a founding member of Tangier British Library and of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as a generous patron of a colony of liberated Moroccan slaves!
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, January 20, 1906: “Baroness and Miss Ungern-Sternberg, accompanied by Captain A Hedley-Garland, arrived this afternoon for a short stay at the Hotel Cecil. . . General R.F.J. Banfield, C.B., Brigadier-General of Administration at Gibraltar, and Lieutenant V. F. Banfield, the Welsh Regiment, arrived this afternoon and are staying in the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, February 10 1906: “Lady M. Wilbraham and Miss Hanson are staying at the Hotel Cecil as are Lieutenant M. Crawshay of the Worcestershire Regiment and Mr. Owen Crawshay.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, March 31, 1906: “Mr. R. B. Cunninghame-Graham, and Mr. John Lavery, R.S.A., the distinguished painter arrived here on Tuesday from Algeciras, and are residing at the Hotel Cecil. These gentlemen are shortly proceeding on an excursion to Fez.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, April 28th 1906: “Baron and Baroness de Hortega, arrived this week at the Hotel Cecil, on a tour from Spain.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, May 5, 1906: “Mr. R. B. Cunninghame-Graham, and Mr. John Lavery, R.S.A., came back from Fez this afternoon, and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, September 29, 1906: “The Baroness Dobrzenski, who made a stay at the Hotel Cecil, left last week for Austria.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, December 29, 1906: “The Hon. W. Burke Cochran, Member of Congress, U.S.A., and Mrs. Cochran arrived from Gibraltar on Thursday, and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, February 7, 1907: “The Marchioness de Sain, and Miss Phillimore of London, arrived from Gibraltar this afternoon and are staying in the Hotel Cecil. The Countess de Revenel, of Paris, arrived from Gibraltar on Tuesday and is staying in the Hotel Cecil”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, March 9, 1907: “General Sir Reginald Gipps, G.C. B., and Lady Gipps, of London, are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, April 6, 1907: “Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Mathilde sister of His Majesty the King of Saxony, and suite, arrived this morning from Seville, via Algeciras, for a short stay at the Hotel Cecil. Her Royal Highness was received at the pier by H.E. Dr. Rosen, German Minister, and other members of the German Legation.
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, April 13th, 1907: “Her Highness Princess Schronburg of Saxony and Miss E. M. James arrived on Tuesday from Gibraltar and are staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, April 20, 1907: “The Marques de Lierta, of Madrid, and the Conde del Fresno, of Seville, made a short stay at the Hotel Cecil this week.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, May 4, 1907: “The Marques and Marquessa de Almodovar, of Jerez, and Senor and Senora de Moxo, were visitors at the Hotel Cecil this week. Her Highness Princess Schronburg, who has made a prolonged stay at the Hotel Cecil, left this afternoon by the Deutsche Ost-Afrika liner Prinzregent, for Hamburg.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, November 23, 1907: “Baron and Baroness de Vos van Steenwyk arrived this afternoon and are staying in the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, February 22, 1908: General Sir Wilsone Black, K.C.B., and Lady Black, arrived this afternoon, on a visit to this city, and are staying in the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, May 2nd, 1908: “His Excellency the Duque de Tovar, formerly Spanish Ambassador to the Vatican, and Don Miguel Villaneuva, ex-minister of the Crown, arrived at the Hotel Cecil on Wednesday, and left yesterday for Ceuta and Melilla on a cruise aboard the S.S. Pielago.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, May 9, 1908:”Baron de Bartouch, of Denmark, who has been away for some years, arrived on Wednesday and is staying at the Hotel Cecil.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, May 16, 1908: “Lt. Colonel Little, Chief Administrator Staff Officer, Gibraltar, Mrs. Little, Major E. M. Comyn, R.G.A., Mrs. Comyn, Major Howell Jones, R.G.A., Mrs. Jones, arrived at the Hotel Cecil today for a short stay.”
Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, June 20, 1908: “Baron de Bartuch, who made a few weeks stay at the Hotel Cecil, left last Saturday for the Canary Islands.”

EXTRACTS FROM THE TANGER GAZETTE, 1923-1934

January 6, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Lt. Colonel Ellis.
January 20, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Lord Crighton Stuart, M.P., the Earl of Selborne, the Countess of Selborne.
February 10, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included General Gomez Jordana and Senora Jordana, and His Excellency the Marques de Hara.
March 3, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included His Excellency Comendator and Mrs. Brambilla, Diplomatic Agent for Italy, General Martinez Anido and Commandant de la Bier.
March 10, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh and Lady Toothill, The Hon. Mrs. Jorcey, Colonel Wilson, D.S.O.
March 17, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included the Comtesse de Villeneuve Bergessen, the Comtesse de Menace, Lt. Colonel E. A. R. Newman.
March 24, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Colonel Sir William and Lady Smith.
March 31, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included the Marques Lazengren and the Marquis Geo de Lazengren (sic).
April 14, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included the Marquis and Marquise Crequi-Montford.
April 21, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included le Comte and Comtesse de San Luis.
May 5, 1923: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included le Comtesse de Villeneuve, and Admiral E. Reeves and party.
June 23, 1923: Guests included the Baron de Burjania. In the same edition an un-illustrated advertisement: “The Cecil Hotel, Tanger, Morocco, Telegraphic Address: CECIL. This first class Modern Hotel, built expressly for the purpose, is situated in its own grounds on the grand beach, five minutes walk from the pier, in the centre of the new town, and has splendid views of the straits and surrounding countryside. Commodious and well ventilated rooms with the latest sanitary arrangements. Suites of rooms with private bath, toilet and W.C. Spacious Dining, Drawing, Reading and Billiard Rooms. Electric light throughout. Bath rooms on every floor. Large terraces, kiosk, lawn tennis court, roller skating and garden. Excellent cuisine and choice wines. Interpreters and experienced guides. Motor-bus meets all steamers. The Manager.”
October 13, 1923: “Members of the committee of the British Chamber of Commerce called at the Hotel Cecil on Monday to say farewell to Colonel MacKerath (British Consul, Fez), to thank him for all that he had done for the British interests and the British colony, and to wish all future success and happiness to him and Mrs. MacKerath.”
December 22nd 1923: Last advertisement for the Hotel Cecil.
January 19, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Colonel, Mrs. And Master Scott, Major and Mrs. Penrose, Captain Anderson, Commander A. Abbay, Lieut. L. C. Sharman, Monseigneurs Lumbroso and Pappalardo, Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll, Vice-Consul, U.S.A., Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, Consul, U.S.A., COLONEL AND MRS. ELLIS, Captain Wright.
January 26, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon.
February 2, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Prince Charles MURAT, the Conde de Albis and the Comte de Pomereu.
February 23, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Lord Killanin, Viscount Peel, and the Conde de Barbate.
March 1, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Admiral Sir Reginald and Lady Hall, Lt.Commander and Mrs. Cornwallis, and Colonel Huot.
March 8, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Lady Malmesbury and Lady Elizabeth Harris.
March 15, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Airlie, Brigadier General E. Rudkin, Lt. Commander Franks, the Marquis de Mos and the Comte and Comtesse de Harcourt.
March 29, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included General Sir Charles C. Munro, Lady Munro, Lady de Robeck, Major the Hon. M. Baring, Lieutenant G. H. MacCarthy and Colonel G. B. Wilson.
April 19, 1924: Guests at the hotel Cecil included H.E. Mr. Dearing, American Ambassador to Lisbon, and Mrs. Dearing, and Lady Mathew.
May 10, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included the Conde de Lieyva, the Marques de Pontejos, and Major Ramsay.
June 21, 1924: Guests at the hotel Cecil included Barons de Brichanvant, Hesent, Larnbea.
July 26, 1924: Guests at the hotel Cecil included Baron and Baroness de Aersen Beyeren.
October 25, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included General Nicholas and family.
November 1, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Kaid Ermiki and followers.
December 13, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Colonel R. G. Coles, Captains E. Hughes and R. B. Oakes.
December 20, 1924: Guests at the Hotel Cecil included Archdeacon and Mrs. Buckton, Lt. Commander and Mrs. C. Harcourt.
December 27, 1924: “The excellent fare offered by the Hotel Cecil on Christmas Day encouraged several people to give dinner parties there. Over 60 guests finally sat down to dinner which was accompanied by much laughter and fun. The evening ended with a dance which was very well attended and much enjoyed. The Hotel was splendidly decorated and the large fires and tastefully shaded lights helped to produce a very charming effect.”

GAP IN THIS JOURNAL DECEMBER 1924 to JANUARY 1930

NO GUEST LISTS PUBLISHED HEREAFTER FOR THE HOTEL CECIL.

February 15, 1930: THE DRAG HOUNDS: “The Drag hounds met on Tuesday at the Menebhi farm and there was a good run. The next meet will be on Wednesday 19th at the Hotel Cecil and a second meet on Saturday 22nd.”
April 5, 1930: THE HUNT BALL: “Last Tuesday night at the Cecil Hotel a Hunt Ball was given as a coming out party of the newly formed Hunt Club, and partly as a means for collecting funds for the maintenance of the Tangier Hounds, which have hitherto been supported by private subscription only. The drawing room of the Hotel was cleared for dancing, and as was most appropriate, hung with bridles, polo sticks, etc., and a few saddles were variously disposed about the room. Music was dispensed by a string orchestra who played extraordinarily well, not only the Fox Trot and Waltzes, but also Paul Jones and Strip the Willow, both of which dances proved to be very good fun and greatly enjoyed. An appetizing selection of cakes and sandwiches were laid out in the dining room with cup of two kinds to wash them down. The ball finished at One, rather an early hour seemingly for Tangier, but this time was fixed out of consideration for those who were going out to the pigsticking camp on the following day. A most successful show and very well attended by the English colony as well as certain officers from the H.M.S. Tourmaline and H.M.S. Splendid anchored in the bay.”
April 5th 1930: First Advertisement for the Hotel El Minzah.
October 18 1930: “MR. O’BRIEN LEAVES, It is with great regret that we hear that Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien are leaving the Cecil Hotel this week. Mrs. O’Brien has for so many years done so much to make the Hotel a success that it will require a strong personality to retain the position. We understand that Senor Don Marchena is to act as director, La Senora Marchena being the heiress of the late Mr. Eugene Chapory.”
December 2Oth 1930: Official Opening of the Hotel El Minzah.
January 3rd 1931: “NEW YEAR’S EVE: Numerous dinners were held to welcome the New Year in. The Hotel El Minzah and the Villa de France were both the seat of several parties which were followed by a dance at the Minzah . . .”
February 14, 1930. The Tangier Gazette commences publication of the guest lists of the Hotels Minzah and De France.
January 16th 1932: “THE TANGIER HUNT BALL, took place in the beautiful ballroom of the Hotel Villa Valentina on Tuesday, 12th January and was a great success. Between seventy and eighty people attened, and the net profit amounted to Frances 885.00”
February 6, 1932: The Tangier Gazette starts to publish Guest Lists for The Hotels El Minzah, Villa de France, and Villa Valentina.
March 12, 1932: “GRAND HOTEL VALENTINA, A First Class All-British Hotel, Management Mr. and Mrs. T. Q. O’Brien, Thoroughly Modernised, All Bedrooms Fitted Hot and Cold Water, Rooms with Private Baths, Self-contained suites, Moorish and English Lounges, Card Room, Large Terrace, Sheltered Garden, Billiards, Ball Room, Ping Pong, Tennis, The Most Attractive American Bar in Moroco, Excellent Quisine served in spacious restaurant, Open to Non-Residents.”
April 23 “A Dance was given in aid of the funds for the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals at the Hotel Valentina on the 14th instant. It was a great success and much enjoyed by all those present. . . The Committee of the P.D.S.A. desire to record their warmest thanks to Mrs. O’Brien who organized matters so excellently.”
November 25, 1932: British WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION, A theatrical entertainment will be given on Wednesday, December 7 at 5p.m. in the Hotel Villa Valentina.”
December 16th, 1932: “TANGIER FRIENDS OF MUSIC, the monthly concert will take place next Monday, December 19th, at 6p.m. in the salons of the Hotel Villa Valentina.”
December 30, 1932: “BRITISH WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION, on Friday, January 6th there will be a children’s’ party at the Hotel Villa Valentina, tea 4p.m. Members may bring their families.”
December 30th, 1932: A MOST SUCCESSFUL DANCE AT THE HOTEL VILLA VALENTINA. A most successful dance was given at the Hotel Villa Valentina last Monday night, Boxing Day, by the popular management, Mr. and Mrs. T.G. O’Brien. The guests, who were many, came early and stayed late, and there was a general consensus of opinion that not for many a long day had a jollier show been held in Tangier. A great proportion of this successful evening was due to the indefatigable efforts of Mr. Henry Owen, who acted as Master of Ceremonies, and whose constantly announced new plans of amusement – kept the ball rolling and never let it stop. Mr. Owen was also mainly responsible for the charming decorations, and in this task he was adequately assisted by Mr. A. W. Barmby.”
January 27, 1933/ OVERSEAS LEAGUE, Mr. Eric Rice, Assistant Secretary of the Overseas League, cordially invites all members in Tangier, and other British residents, who will be interested, to an informal party at the Valentina Hotel, Monday, January 30, 6p.m.”
March 10th, 1933: DANCE, there will be a dance in the ball room of the Hotel Villa Valentina on Saturday night. By Kind permission of Rear-Admiral James, the band of H.M.S. Hood will play. Admission is by invitation only.”
June 30, 1933: EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS, Monsieur Darvas, a young artist of remarkable talent, is giving an interesting exhibition of his paintings of North African types and scenes in Monsieur Marcel Levy’s Art Gallery, in El Minzah building.” Same edition “Margaret Sexty, Ladies Hairdresser, Hotel Villa de France, makes a special offer for one month only, permanent wave, One Pound One Shilling. The latest and best permanent waving.”
July 28, 1933: AN EXHIBITION OF PORTRAITS that will repay a visit is now being held in the Levy Galleries, El Minzah buildings. The painter is Mr. Alfred Szwendowski who began his artistic career by studing in Moscow at Count Stroganoff’s Academy of Art.
October 13, 1933: THE TAIL-WAGGERS’ CLUB, we are informed that the Tail-Waggers’ Club has already passed the half million mark on the British Register. But there still exist another 3 million dogs in Great Britain that have not yet joined the Club. We wonder how many Tail-Waggers there are in Tangier? Mrs. O’Brien, the popular manageress of the Hotel Villa Valentina, has the distinction of her dog Ju Ju, bearing the sign no.1 on its medal. The subscription to the Tail-Waggers’ Club is half a crown per annum per dog. Subscriptions may be sent to Mrs. O’Brien, c/o the Hotel Villa Valentina.” Same edition “MOORISH DINNER, a Moorish dinner was given last Saturday night, October 7th, by the Management of the Hotel Villa Valentina to their guests in the hotel’s beautiful ballroom. Nearly 60 persons took their seats – some with difficulty, for it is not easy to sit cross-legged when one has passed the first flush of youth. The ballroom had been tastefully arranged by Mrs. O’Brien with long divans having in front of them low tables on which the Moorish food was served. . . An additional touch of colour was given to an already bright and animated scene by the presence of a Moorish maiden in all her resplendent robes. The dinner was followed by a dance in the same ballroom, and the whole night’s entertainment was voted by all those present to be a great success.”
January 26, 1934: SUNDAY TEA DANCE AT EL MINZAH, The management of the Hotel El Minzah Hotel are to be congratulated upon the great success of their Tea Dances which are held each Sunday afternoon from 4.30p.M to 7.30p.m.. The charge, including tea, is Francs 15 for the ordinary public and Francs 10 for visitors staying at the El Minzah or Villa de France Hotels.”
February 2nd, 1934: BRITISH RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION, The Annual Meeting of the British Residents’ Association was held at the Hotel Valentina on Tuesday 30instant with Mr. J. H. Sinclair, C.M.G., in the Chair. . . The meeting was followed by a thé dansant in the Ball Room of the hotel which was attended by many members of the Association and their friends, while a goodly number proceeded to the Card Room, which had been thrown open for the occasion. The catering was in the excellent hands of Mr. E. Posso, the Manager of the Hotel Villa Valentina.”
February 9th, 1934: HOTEL VILLA DE FRANCE, we hear that Mr. and Mrs. T. Q. O’Brien are taking over today, February 9th, the management of the Hotel Villa de France.”

Reference Works

Burke’s Irish Family Records, 1976.
Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland, 1912.
Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & knightage, 1970.
The Concise Dictionary of National Biography, 1901-1970.
Debrett’s Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 1935 & 1950.
The Dictionary of National Biography, 1903.
Livre D’Or du Maroc, 1934-4935.
Tangier – A Practical Guide, 1948.

Journals and Newspapers

Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, 1883-1908.
Tangier Gazette, 1923-1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955.

References

Bouziane, Abdellatif (2015-01-08). "Tanger Express: Lo que queda del Hotel Cecil de Tánger". Tanger Express. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
"Hotel Cecil en Tánger". Deshaciendo la madeja. 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
Al-Moghreb, Al-Aksa (1899). "Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, Saturday, February 25th, 1899". The Journal Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa, 1883 - 1908.

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