Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon GCMG GCVO KCIE CSI KStJ
Painting of Henry McMahon byJohn Collier,c. 1915
Personal details
Born	28 November 1862 Simla,Punjab Province,British India
Died	29 December 1949 (1949-12-30) (aged 87) London, United Kingdom[1]
Occupation	Diplomat,commissioner
Known for	McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, theMcMahon Line,Declaration to the Seven

Sir Vincent Arthur Henry McMahonGCMG GCVO KCIE CSI KStJ (28 November 1862 – 29 December 1949) was aBritish Indian Army officer and diplomat who served as the Foreign Secretary in theGovernment of India from 1911 to 1915 and as theHigh Commissioner inEgypt from 1915 to 1917.^[2] As the Foreign Secretary McMahon conducted the tripartite negotiations between Tibet, China and Britain that led to theSimla Convention. Even though China did not in the end sign the Convention, the agreement governed the British relations with Tibet till 1947. In Egypt, McMahon was best known for theMcMahon-Hussein Correspondence withHussein bin Ali,Sharif of Mecca, and theDeclaration to the Seven in response to a memorandum written by seven notable Syrians. After theSykes-Picot Agreement was published by theBolshevik Russian government in November 1917, McMahon resigned.^[3] He also features prominently inSeven Pillars of Wisdom,T.E. Lawrence's account of theArab Revolt against theOttoman Empire duringWorld War I.

McMahon was the son ofLieutenant-GeneralCharles Alexander McMahon,FRS,FGS (1830–1904), ageologist and Commissioner of bothLahore andHisar inPunjab, India,^[4] and who, like his father,Captain Alexander McMahon (born 1791,Kilrea,County Londonderry, Ireland), had been an officer with theEast India Company.

He was educated in England atHaileybury College, the recently-founded successor of theEast India Company College. When he joined the school, his father had an address inExeter. He then proceeded to theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst.^[5]

The OrielMcMahons are theGaelicclan ofMac Mathghamhna who had come originally from the medieval Irish kingdom ofOriel in SouthUlster, where they reigned from around 1250 until about 1600.

Henry McMahon's own family had settled in theDownpatrick area ofCounty Down before his great-grandfather, Arthur McMahon, moved to Kilrea, where he wasminister of the localPresbyterian congregation between 1789 and 1794: a prominentIrish Republican, Arthur McMahon was a member of the National Directory of theSociety of United Irishmen and one of theircolonels inUlster during theIrish Rebellion of 1798.^[6] He apparently fought at the battles ofSaintfield andBallynahinch. Following the rebels' overall defeat, he was able to flee toFrance, where he served withNapoleon’sIrish Legion.^{[citation needed]} It has been reported that he was captured by the British during theWalcheren Campaign of 1809 and sent to England, but was later able to return to France where, in June 1815, he eventually died fighting at eitherLigny orWaterloo.^[7]

McMahon was commissioned as alieutenant into theKing's (Liverpool) Regiment on 10 March 1883.^[8][9] He transferred to theIndian Staff Corps in 1885, joining the 1st Sikh Infantry in thePunjab Frontier Force.^[10]

In 1887, McMahon joined the Punjab Commission (civil service). He transferred to theIndian Political Department in 1890, serving in it till 1915. His various positions included North-West Frontier, Zhob and Thal-Chotiali agencies inBalochistan,Gilgit,Dir–Swat–Chitral and finally as the Agent to the Governor-General for Balochistan (a position that combined the Chief Commissioner forBritish Baluchistan and Political Resident for theBaluchistan Agency).^[10] During these years he was promoted tocaptain on 10 March 1894, andmajor on 10 July 1901.^[8] He received the temporary rank ofcolonel while employed on special duty on theSistan frontier in 1903.^[11]

McMahon spokePersian,Pashto, andHindustani, and his aptitude for languages led him also to learnArabic.^{[citation needed]}

In 1911, the ViceroyLord Hardinge appointed McMahon as the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. He held this position till 1915. During 1913–1914, McMahon was responsible for holding the tripartite conference to negotiate theSimla Convention between Tibet, China and Britain, and acting as Britain's plenipoteniary. Though the conference failed to produce a signed convention between all three parties, Tibet and Britain did agree the draft convention, which governed their mutual relations till the end of British rule in India. Tibet and Britain also agreed their mutual border in the northeast India, which bears the nameMcMahon Line.^[10][12]

In 1915, McMahon was sent to replace SirMilne Cheetham, briefly acting forLord Kitchener, who had becomeWar Secretary in London, in the post ofHigh Commissioner in theSultanate of Egypt. When he arrived by train,Ronald Storrs, a member of theArab Bureau, described him as "quiet, friendly, agreeable, considerate and cautious",^[13] although later in his career Storrs and others were not so charitable. McMahon was made aKnight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ).^{[citation needed]}

Although a temporary appointment, it became a permanent post, for an experienced political administrator. With the approval of Kitchener and Foreign SecretarySir Edward Grey, McMahon began a long correspondence withHusayn bin Ali,Sharif of Mecca, the Ottoman-appointed ruler of the Hijaz, to use the Bedouin tribes under his control to support theEgyptian Expeditionary Force in overthrowing the Ottomans. He promised Husayn an independent area under Arab governance that was to include what was then theMutasarrifate of Jerusalem (laterMandatory Palestine), in exchange for Arab support in Britain's conflict against theOttoman Turks in what came to be known as theGreat Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. Their correspondence is known to historians from theMcMahon–Hussein Correspondence.^[14]

Sir Gilbert Clayton,Aubrey Herbert, Storrs and others of the intelligence community approved of McMahon's pro-Arabist policy from 1916 onwards. McMahon sat on the plan to use the Sharif to support British for six months. But it wasSir Reginald Wingate who persuaded McMahon that the Arabs were ready, able and willing for Cairo to support Husayn in an effort to overthrow the Ottomans and establish a pan-Arab state made up of Ottoman Arab lands in the Middle East. Storrs thought the diplomacy was "in every way exaggerated."^[15] He was appointed aKnight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG) in 1916 upon his retirement from theBritish Indian Army.^{[citation needed]}

By May 1916, Turkish troops had arrived in Mecca, and McMahon received a telegram fromAbdullah ibn Husayn, Sharif Husayn's son, that the Movement was ready. McMahon despatched the oriental secretary, Storrs, to London with a team of intelligence experts. The British decision to land an invasion force in the Dardanelles, instead of Alexandretta, and to promise the French Syria under theSykes-Picot Agreement, irritated McMahon.

On 23 November 1917, following theOctober Revolution, theBolsheviks released copies the Sykes–Picot Agreement and other secret treaties, publishing full texts inIzvestia andPravda.The Manchester Guardian then printed the texts on 26 November 1917.^[16] This caused great embarrassment to the Allies and growing distrust between them and the Arabs, and McMahon resigned his post in protest.

In 1920, McMahon was awarded theOrder of El Nahda, 1st Class, by Husayn, the newKing of the Hejaz. In 1925, he was promoted to aKnight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ).^{[citation needed]}

McMahon was one of the founders of theImperial CollegeMasonic Lodge in 1923,^[17] at which time he was also a member of the governing body of Imperial College.

On 19 October 1886, inBombay, McMahon married Mary E. Bland, a daughter of F. C. Bland of Derriquin Castle,County Kerry.^[5] Their daughter Jessica was born in 1887. In 1909, at the church ofSt George's, Hanover Square, London, she married Henry A. Hetherington, of Berechurch Hall,Colchester.^[18]

McMahon and his wife retired to England. McMahon died on 29 December 1949 at the Cadogan Hotel inSloane Street,Chelsea, where he had been living. He was survived by his wife.^[19] He left an estate valued at £26,918, probate for which was granted to Jessica Merriell Hetherington andLord Courtauld-Thomson.^[20] McMahon was buried in theGolders Green Cemetery.

Coat of arms of Henry McMahon

Notes Granted 10 April 1924 bySir Nevile Rodwell Wilkinson,Ulster King of Arms.[21] Crest On a wreath of the colours a bear rampant Sable holding an antique crown Or. Escutcheon Per pale Or and Gules an ostrich counterchanged holding in the beak a horseshoe Proper on a canton of the second a bear rampant Sable. Motto Deum Timens Solum

• Aspecies of Asian viper,Eristicophis macmahoni, is named in honour of Henry McMahon.^[22]
• Eirenis mcmahoni, also named in his honour, is considered a synonym ofEirenis persicus.^[22]
• The Pakistani fishLabeo macmahoni is potentially named in his honour.^[23]

• McSkimin, Samuel (1906).The Annals of Ulster from 1790 to 1798.
• Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2011).The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Vol. xiii. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 2967 pp.ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5.
• Kernohan, W. (1912).The Parishes of Kilrea and Tamlaght O'Crilly.
• Schneers, Jonathon (2010).The Balfour Declaration. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• Friedman, Isaiah (1970).The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the Question of Palestine. Vol. 5. Journal of Contemporary History.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHenry McMahon.

• Henry McMahon
• Newspaper clippings about Henry McMahon in the20th Century Press Archives of theZBW

• 1862 births
• 1949 deaths
• Administrators in British India
• British Indian Army officers
• Companions of the Order of the Star of India
• Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
• High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Egypt
• Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
• Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Knights of Justice of the Order of St John
• Indian Staff Corps officers
• People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College
• Military personnel from Shimla
• British people of Irish descent
• British military personnel in colonial India
• Chief Commissioners of Baluchistan
• British Freemasons
• King's Regiment (Liverpool) officers
• 19th-century British Army personnel

• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB
• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Pages containing links to subscription-only content
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2017
• Use British English from April 2017
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2022
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2016
• CS1 maint: location missing publisher
• Commons category link is on Wikidata