Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley (19 January 1855 – 22 June 1935), also known as Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq, was an Irish peer and a prominent convert to Islam who was also one of the leading members of the Woking Muslim Mission, alongside Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. He also presided over the British Muslim Society for some time.[1]
The Lord Headley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn 19 January 1855 London, England |
| Died | 22 June 1935 (aged 80) |
| Burial place | Brookwood Cemetery |
| Nationality |  United Kingdom
 Irish Free State |
| Education | Bachelor of Arts |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge, King's College, London |
| Occupations | Muslim scholar |
| Organization | Institution of Civil Engineers |
| Family | Baron Headley |
Biography
edit
Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn was born in London and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge University.[2][3] He then entered Middle Temple before commencing studies at King's College London. He subsequently became a civil engineer by profession, a builder of roads in India, and an authority on the protection of intertidal zones.
He was an enthusiastic practitioner of boxing, as well as other arts of self-defence, and in 1890 co-authored, with C. Phillipps-Wolley, the classic Broad-sword and Singlestick (1890).[4] He was solo author of Boxing (1889) in the same All-England Series (introduced by the boxer Bat Mullins), which was reprinted in 2006.[5] In 1899, he married Teresa Johnson, daughter of William H. Johnson,[6] former Wazir-wazirat (governor) of Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir), India.[7] She died in 1919.[8]
Headley converted to Islam on 16 November 1913 and adopted the Muslim name of Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq. In 1914, he established the British Muslim Society. He was the author of several books on Islam, including A Western Awakening to Islam (1914) and Three Great Prophets of the World.[9] He was a widely travelled man and twice performed the Hajj.
He inherited his peerage from his cousin in 1913. In 1921, he married the Australian author Barbara Baynton.[10] He became bankrupt in 1922.[10] He was offered the throne of Albania in 1925, along with $500,000 and $50,000 per year[11] but refused it, at which point Lady Headley returned to Melbourne, where she died in 1929.[10] From 1929 Headley owned and lived at Ashton Gifford House near the village of Codford in Wiltshire. His widow Lady Catherine Headley continued to live at the property until 1940.[12][page needed] He is buried in the Muslim section of Brookwood Cemetery.
Armenian genocide denial
editBaron Headley was an early denier of the Armenian genocide. Along with other Turkophiles, Headley defended the Turks when news of Armenian massacres, which he both justified and denied, had reached Europe.[13]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The Woking Muslim Mission, England, 1913-1960s > Personalities".
- ^ "Winn, Rowland George Allanson (WN874RG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ The New International Yearbook, 1936
- ^ Allanson-Winn, R. G.; Phillipps-Wolley, C. (1890). Broad-sword and Single-stick: with chapters on quarter-staff, bayonet, cudgel, shillalah, walking-stick, umbrellba, and other weapons of self-defence (All-England Series.). London: George Bell.
- ^ Rowland George Allanson-Winn Headley (11 October 2004). Boxing: With prefatory note by bat Mullins. ISBN 978-0543970237.
- ^ (TIWW 1923, p. 107)
- ^ The Age (Melbourne), 14 February 1921:5 "About People", accessed through Trove, 28 Apr. 2017, https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201698943
- ^ Hesilrige 1921, p. 463.
- ^ Headley's book: A Western Awakening to Islam at wokingmuslim.org
- ^ a b c Barbara Jane Baynton (1857–1929). "Baynton, Barbara Jane (1857–1929)". Biographical entry, Australian biography database. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Time magazine, "London's Mosque" 28 June 1937
- ^ Dod's Peerage, 1942
- ^ Long, Andrew C. (2014). Reading Arabia: British Orientalism in the Age of Mass Publication, 1880-1930. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. pp. 156–157. ISBN 978-0-8156-3323-5.
Work cited
edit- Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. 160A, Fleet street, London, UK: Dean & Son. p. 463.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - . . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. p. – via Wikisource.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [self-published source] [better source needed]
Further reading
edit- Gilham, Jamie (2020). The British Muslim Convert Lord Headley, 1855-1935. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781350084445.