Robin Leonard Bidwell

In the Western Aden Protectorate (hinterland of the Colony of Aden) had Robin Bidwell as Political Officer and became the Jemen- or Arabia experts. The Dictionary of Modern Arab History became his life's work.

Robin Leonard "Ron" Bidwell (born August 25, 1927 or 1929 in St Giles , London , † June 10, 1994 in Coney Weston , West Suffolk ) was a British orientalist . He published numerous works on British and French colonial history.

Life

After training at Stonyhurst College, Downside School and Pembroke College in Cambridge , Bidwell was first sent to the Suez Canal Zone as a sergeant of military intelligence before he worked as a political officer in the Western Aden Protectorate (hinterland of the British crown colony Aden ) from 1955 to 1959. acted - a kind of resident or "advisor" authorized by the governor to the South Yemeni emir under British protectorate. He then traveled to all Middle Eastern countries on behalf of the University of Cambridge until 1965 and received his doctorate in 1968 on the history of French administration in Morocco. From 1968 until his retirement in 1990 he was Secretary of the Middle East Center in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University.

Bidwell married his wife Margareth when he was over 50 years old. From 1980 until his death he worked almost exclusively on his main work Dictionary of Modern Arab History - An A to Z of over 2,000 entries from 1798 to the present day , which he dedicated to his daughter Leila.

Works

author

• 1973: Morocco Under Colonial Rule - French Administration of Tribal Areas 1912–1956 . Frank Cass, London.
• 1976: Travelers in Arabia .
• 1983: The Two Yemens .
• 1998: Dictionary of Modern Arab History .

editor

Bidwell compiled and published a number of British archival materials and manuals:

• 1971: Affairs of Arabia 1905-1906 . 2 volumes, Frank Cass, London.
• 1971: Affairs of Kuwait . 2 volumes, Frank Cass, London.
• 1973: Guide to Government Ministers . 2 volumes, Frank Cass, London.
• 1978: Guide to African Ministers .
• 1986: The Bulletin of the Arab Bureau in Cairo 1916–1919

He was also co-editor of the journals Arabian Studies and New Arabian Studies .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Notice de personne - Bidwell, Robin Leonard (1927–1994)
2. ^ The British Yemeni Society: Obituary Robin Leonard Bidwell (1929-1994)
3. ^ G. Rex Smith: Robin Leonard Bidwell 1929-94 . In: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1994), pp. 152-153.