Ignatius Valentine Chirol

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Sir Valentine Chirol
Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol by John Collier.jpg
painted by John Collier at his London studio in 1909.
Born25 May 1852
Died22 October 1929
Carlyle Square, London, England
OccupationHistorian, Journalist and diplomat
LanguageEnglish, French and German
NationalityBritish
EducationUniversity of Paris
Alma materVersailles, France

Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol (28 May 1852 –  22 October 1929) was a British journalist, prolific author, historian and diplomat. He was a passionate imperialist and believed that Imperial Germany and Muslim unrest were the biggest threats to the British Empire.

Islamic terrorism set of terrorist acts or campaign committed by individuals or groups who allegedly profess Islamic or Islamist motivations or goals

Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism is defined as any terrorist act, set of acts or campaign committed by groups or individuals who profess Islamic or Islamist motivations or goals. Islamic terrorists justify their violent tactics through the interpretation of Quran and Hadith according to their own goals and intentions. The motivation for Islamic terrorism in part comes from the idea of Islamic supremacy which is encapsulated in the formula, "Islam is exalted and nothing is exalted above it."

British Empire States and dominions ruled by the United Kingdom

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35,500,000 km2 (13,700,000 sq mi), 24% of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, the phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets" was often used to describe the British Empire, because its expanse around the globe meant that the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

Contents

Early life

He was the son of the Rev. Alexander Chirol and Harriet Chirol . His education was mostly in France and Germany. Growing up in France with his parents, Chirol lived in the city of Versailles, where he also finished secondary school.

In 1869, the young Chirol, already bilingual, moved to Germany, residing in a small town near Frankfurt am Main. By 1870, the Franco-Prussian War had broken out, which Chirol experienced from both sides. He returned to Paris in 1871, just in time to see the Germans enter Paris.

Franco-Prussian War significant conflict pitting the Second French Empire against the Kingdom of Prussia and its allies

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and later the Third French Republic, and the German states of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused by Prussian ambitions to extend German unification and French fears of the shift in the European balance of power that would result if the Prussians succeeded. Some historians argue that the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war on Prussia in order to draw the independent southern German states—Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt—into an alliance with the North German Confederation dominated by Prussia, while others contend that Bismarck did not plan anything and merely exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. None, however, dispute the fact that Bismarck must have recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole.

Thanks to his good French and German, he was able to come and go easily passing for a citizen of either side, and he began to acquire his taste for adventure and politics.

Given the chaos in France, the Chirols returned to their family home in Hove. In April 1872, Chirol joined the Foreign Office where he worked for until spring 1876. Unsatisfied with the slow pace of life in the Foreign Office, Chirol returned to travelling where things were much quicker.

Hove Town on the south coast of England, part of city of Brighton & Hove

Hove is a town in East Sussex, England, immediately west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast. As part of local government reform, Brighton and Hove were merged, to form the borough of Brighton and Hove in 1997. In 2001, the new borough officially attained city status.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), commonly called the Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide. It was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

Having begun to learn Arabic before he left England, he set off to Egypt arriving in Cairo where he took up residence. In 1879, he set off for Beirut not long after the British had taken control of Cyprus. From there, he travelled inland through Syria with Laurence Oliphant from whom he would later learn to draw. In the Middle East, he took up journalism for the first time, for the Levant Herald, then the leading newspaper in the Near East.

Chirol moved on travelling, to Istanbul and later throughout the Balkans. From the travels came his first book, Twixt Greek and Turk.

Journalist

Chirol began as correspondent and editor of The Times travelling across the globe writing about international events. His first major post was to Berlin in 1892 where he formed many close relationships with the German Foreign Ministry including the Foreign Minister. He lived there until 1896 and reported on Anglo-German relations. Even after returning to London, Chirol travelled back to Berlin and often acted as a backchannel between the English and Germans.

<i>The Times</i> British newspaper, founded 1785

The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently, and have only had common ownership since 1967.

Later, he succeeded Donald Mackenzie Wallace as director of foreign department of The Times in 1899. [1]

Despite being in charge of The Times foreign line, he still managed to travel a great deal. In 1902, he travelled overland to India heading first to Moscow and on to Isfahan, Quetta, Delhi and, finally, Calcutta, where he met with Lord George Nathaniel Curzon. Chirol and Curzon got on quite well, having first met in Cairo in 1895. Chirol was impressed with Curzon's fine governing calling him "a marvellous man for work". Chirol's first visit to India inspired a longtime love for the place to which he would often return throughout his life. Towards the end of his trip, he travelled north to Indore where he stayed with Sir Francis Younghusband.

After returning to London, Chirol continued working on his next book, The Middle Eastern Question, based on a series of 19 articles by Chirol that appeared in The Times in 1902 and 1903. His book helped to bring the term Middle East into common usage. Chirol dedicated the book to his new friend, Curzon, whom he would soon see again. In November 1903 he sailed to Karachi where he boarded a yacht to tour the Persian Gulf with Lord and Lady Curzon. Other notable guests on the voyage included a young Winston Churchill. Chirol returned to London by Christmas and just as the Russo-Japanese War was breaking out. He later travelled to Washington D.C., where he met with Teddy Roosevelt and many US Congress members, facilitated by his close friend, Sir Cecil Spring Rice. [2]

After two decades as a journalist he retired from The Times on 21 December 1911 and was knighted shortly thereafter, on 1 January 1912, for his distinguished service as a foreign affairs advisor. He rejoined the Foreign Office as a diplomat and was soon on his way to the Balkans as World War I broke out.

World War I

Travelling through Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania, Chirol, along with J.D. Gregory, met with foreign officials and heads of state to help convince them to join the Allied side. In addition, he wrote a stern critique of the Foreign Office's failings in the region, including the ongoing quagmire at Gallipoli.

Deprecatory comments in Chirol's book, Indian Unrest, resulted in a civil suit being brought against him in London by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in the Indian independence movement. Although Tilak ultimately lost the suit, Chirol ended up spending almost two years in India on account of it, missing the bulk of World War I.

Later life

He later travelled to Paris as part of a government delegation whose job it was to work on terms of peace. Though no longer formally with the newspaper, Chirol continued to write articles occasionally and maintained his wide range of journalistic and diplomatic contacts.

In 1924, he travelled to the United States on a lecture tour and he spoke about the growing problems between the Occident and the Orient and warned against American isolationism, which he greatly feared. He spent the remainder of his retired life travelling the world to places like Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and, especially, India. In addition, he published a number of other books.

Chirol died in London in 1929 and was missed by many. Major-General Sir Neill Malcolm called him the "friend of viceroys, the intimate of ambassadors, one might almost say the counsellor of ministers, he was [also] one of the noblest characters that ever adorned British journalism". He was buried in the Brighton Extra Mural Cemetery.

Biography

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "CHIROL, Valentine". Who's Who. Vol. 57. 1905. pp. 296–297.
  2. ↑ The Spectator: 'Sir Cecil Spring Rice' http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/12th-october-1929/23/sir-cecil-spring-rice

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