St John Philby

St John Philby
St John Philby in Riyadh
Born
Harry St John Bridger Philby

3 April 1885
Badulla, British Ceylon
Died30 September 1960(1960-09-30) (aged 75)
Beirut, Lebanon
EducationWestminster School
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Arabist, explorer, writer, intelligence officer
Spouses
Dora Johnston
​
(m. 1910)​
Rozy al-Abdul Aziz
​
(m. 1945)​
Children
  • with Dora:
    Kim
  • Diana
  • Helena
  • Patricia
  • with Rozy:
    Fahad
  • Sultan
  • Faris
  • Khaled

Harry St John Bridger Philby, CIE (3 April 1885 – 30 September 1960), also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah (Arabic: الشيخ عبدالله), was a British Arabist, advisor, explorer, writer, and a colonial intelligence officer who served as an advisor to King Abdulaziz ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia.

As he states in his autobiography, he "became something of a fanatic" and in 1908[1] "the first Socialist to join the Indian Civil Service". After studying Oriental languages at the University of Cambridge, he was posted to Lahore in the Punjab in 1908, acquiring fluency in Urdu, Punjabi, Baluchi, Persian and eventually Arabic. He converted to Islam in 1930 and later became an adviser to Ibn Saud, urging him to unite the Arabian Peninsula under Saudi rule,[2] and helping him to negotiate with the United Kingdom and the United States when petroleum was discovered in 1938. His second marriage was to a Saudi Arabian woman, Rozy al-Abdul Aziz.[3]

His only son by his first wife, Dora Johnston, was Kim Philby, who became known worldwide as a double agent for the Soviet Union who defected in 1963.[4] Khaled Philby, one of his three sons with his second wife, is the former United Nations Resident Coordinator (equivalent to an ambassador) in, among others, Kuwait and Turkmenistan.

  1. ^ The London Gazette Publication date: 3 November 1908 Issue:28191 Page: 7933
  2. ^ "Middle East Time Bomb: The Real Aim of ISIS Is to Replace the Saud Family as the New Emirs of Arabia". The Huffington Post. 3 September 2014.
  3. ^ Ben Macintyre A Spy Among Friends pg 24
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference sant.ox.ac.uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).