William Harold Ingrams

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Harold Ingrams ( February 3, 1897 - December 9, 1973 ) was a British colonial official.

Life

The son of a clergyman in Shrewsbury was wounded as a soldier in World War I and then joined the British Colonial Service . He initially served in Zanzibar and Mauritius before joining the Aden Protectorate in 1934 . For administrative reasons, the Aden Protectorate was divided into an Eastern Protectorate and a Western Protectorate in 1937. Ingrams came to the court of the Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla as Resident Adviser in the Eastern Aden Protectorate . With his wife Doreen, he was one of the first Europeans to travel the remote hinterland with donkey and camel in Arabic clothing. There he became known for the so-called "Ingrams Peace", which he and his wife Doreen (1906–1997) brokered in 1937 between warring tribes in the wadi. Initially, however, he had enforced the peace in the country with ruthless bombing raids on the civilian population, which was then extended by three and later by ten years, creating the basis for a hitherto unknown economic upturn and soon the following administrative reforms in the army and customs.

In 1945 Ingrams was seconded from the Colonial Office to the Control Commission for Germany / British Element in Bad Salzuflen . There he was responsible for institutional democratization in the British zone. His proposals for reorganizing the administration and elections were based on the British model, to which he believed there were no alternatives. Ingrams was inclined to treat the Germans as if they were an intelligent tribe of Bedouins. Discussions in the shady tent were allowed until the resident officer hit the floor with the stick and then announced his decision. This attitude annoys the Germans.

In 1947 he returned to the Colonial Office as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories (for the northern Gold Coast; now part of Ghana ), but retired a year later. However, the Colonial Office continued to consult with him on difficult issues and included him in missions to Gibraltar , Hong Kong and Uganda . He finally withdrew from this consulting work in 1968.

estate

The Churchill Archive Center , located at Churchill College , Cambridge , owns seven archive boxes containing the Ingrams' written estate that the colonial official's widow gave to the archive.

Fonts (selection)

  • Arabia and the Isles. Its History and its People , with a Forword by Lt-Col Sir Bernard Reilly. J. Murray, London 1942.
    • German: pacified desert . Rohrer, Wiesbaden 1950.
    • Arabia and the isles. Its History and its People , 3rd edition with an Introduction Covering the Recent Developments in South Western Arabia. Praeger, New York, 1966.
  • Seven Across the Sahara, from Ash to Accra , John Murray, London, 1949.
  • Hong Kong , HM Stationery Office, London, 1952.
  • Uganda: A Crisis of Nationhood , HM Stationery Office, London, 1960.
  • The Yemen: Imams, Rulers and Revolutions , John Murray, London, 1963.
  • Zanzibar: Its History and Its People , Cass, London, 1967.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ingrams, William Harold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Colonial Administrator
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1897
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1973