"Proclamation of Marital Law in Jerusalem", a trilingual proclamation which was printed a short time after the conquest of Jerusalem by the British on December 9, 1917, containing the text of the Jerusalem Declaration – the official declaration of Martial Law in Jerusalem by Sir Edmund Allenby. [Jerusalem?]: Govt. Press, December 1917. English, French and Italian. The first proclamation that was printed under the British Mandate for Palestine. 300 copies printed.
The proclamation before us bears a dedication handwritten by Ronald Storrs, the first British governor of Jerusalem: "Ronald Storrs / military governor / to Colonel Isham" [Colonel Ralph Heyward Isham].
The Turkish army retreated from Jerusalem on the eve of December 8, 1917. The next day, the Muslim Mayor of Jerusalem, Hussein el-Husayni, and his entourage gave their written submission and the keys of the city to the British Army. The official surrender took place two days later, on December 11. On the same day, General Allenby entered Jerusalem and announced its conquest during a festive ceremony in the presence of the commanders-in-chief of the Allies of World War I. The great importance Allenby attributed to the event was reflected, among others, in his decision to dismount his horse before entering the Jaffa gate and in this declaration, which was read in several languages and was printed on two different broadsides (the one before us and an additional one, which was printed in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and Greek).
In his declaration, Allenby chose to emphasize the importance of Jerusalem's uniqueness as a city which is sacred to the three religions: "[…] do I make known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest or customary place of prayer, of whatsoever form of the three religions, will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred".
Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs (1881-1955), who signed the proclamation before us, was the first military governor of Jerusalem during the British Mandate. In 1904, he was sent to serve in the Egyptian Civil Administration and within several years, was appointed as the secretary of the High Commissioner in Egypt, Henry McMahon. Storrs was fluent in Arabic and was familiar with the culture of the area. During the years of the war, he was in contact with the leader of the Hashemite dynasty, Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi, and he was the person to introduce him to the British army officer Thomas Edward Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia").
After the war, Storrs was appointed the military governor of Jerusalem, after the officer who was supposed to receive the appointment, Bill Burton, declined the offer claiming that "the only sufferable places in Jerusalem are the bathtub and the bed".
Although he did much for the city (issued coins, renewed the postal services, enacted a law for cladding the houses of Jerusalem with stone), more than once Storrs was accused of hostile and discriminating attitude towards the Jews and there were people who saw him as responsible for the 1920 and 1921 Riots. In his memoir, Storrs recalled: "I had to endure such a tempest of vituperation in the Palestine and World Hebrew Press that I am still unable to understand how I did not emerge from it an anti-Semite for life". Nonetheless, Storrs felt affection for several key figures of the Jewish Yishuv and was a friend of Chaim Nachman Bialik, Achad HaAm and even Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He died in England in 1955, at the age of 73.
The receiver of the proclamation, Ralph Heyward Isham (1890-1955) was an American collector of books and manuscripts, who was known for purchasing documents and manuscripts of the writer James Boswell. During World War I, he served in the British Army; it was then that he presumably received the proclamation before us from Ronald Storrs.
Although 300 copies of the proclamation were printed, it seems that only a few copies had survived (Isham himself believed that only three copies of the proclamation had survived. See enclosed article of the New York Times).
65.5X50 cm. Good overall condition. Stains. Brittle paper. Tears to the margins, some of them restored.
Enclosed:
A clipping from the New York Times (May 16, 1936) – an article describing the proclamation before us (accompanied by a picture). English.
Provenance:
1. The Collection of Ralph Heyward Isham.
2. Bought at Christie's, New York. Auction no. 6824, May 17, 1989.