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ABSTRACT
Britain’s systems of imperial administration provided ample opportunity for self-seeking individuals to exploit. I argue that the career of Rupert Gunnis (1899–1965) in colonial Cyprus is one such case, in which even local laws were transgressed with impunity. His initial position as Aide-de-Camp to the Governor, Sir Ronald Storrs (1926–1932), established him as an influential member of the small British colonial community, affording him a power that he continued to exert as Inspector of Antiquities and informal adviser to the authoritarian Governor Richmond Palmer (1933–1939). Neither Storrs nor Palmer intervened to curb Gunnis’s suspected activity in breach of local laws against the export of antiquities and against homosexual behaviour. The two probable offences were linked through the close relations that he developed with the island’s Police force. Gunnis’s high social standing in Cyprus and in Britain, achieved through assiduous networking, suffered after his falling-out with Palmer. In revenge, he challenged the Governor’s position by participating in the nascent Cypriot movement in favour of a return to constitutional government. Gunnis’s escape from Cyprus to avoid arrest brought an end to this unprecedented challenge to a Governor from one who had successfully manipulated the system to his own ends.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Ruth Keshishian for locating a copy of Machluzarides’s book and to Laura Tapini for help with translation. Rita Severis generously allowed me to consult a selection of the transcriptions from Gunnis’s diaries that she made before they were donated to the Henry Moore Institute. I thank Errin Hussey, archivist at that Institute, and the staff at the King’s College London Archive and at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford. Pertev Basri, Lindy Crewe, Juliette Desplats, Thomas Kiely, Demetrios Michaelides, Rita Severis and Anja Ulbrich kindly provided information and Yvonne Mazurek and anonymous reviewers commented helpfully on a draft. I am grateful to all of them.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Storrs, Orientations. The quote is from page 577 of the first edition.
2 Gunnis, Dictionary. His work in England predominates in biographical accounts, of which the fullest is White, “Gunnis;” see also Symons, “Rupert Gunnis;” Knox, “Portrait;” and Knox, “Gunnis, Rupert Forbes.” Most of Gunnis’s papers were donated in 2011 to the Archive of Sculptors Papers at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds by his brother Nigel’s daughter, Lady Diana Farnham (1931–2021).
3 Harris, No voice, 90.
4 Symons, “Gunnis,” 7.
5 The National Archives (TNA), London, Colonial Office, Cyprus, Original correspondence (hereafter, CO; all folio numbers given here are from the black numerical series); Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, Papers of Rupert Gunnis, Inv. no. 2011.218, Boxes 18–20, Diaries 1926–1939 (hereafter, Gunnis Diary). For extracts from the Diaries posted online, see CVAR and the Acknowledgements at the end of this text; also, King’s College London, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, Papers of Hilton, John Robert (1908–1994), K/PP94 (hereafter, KCL Hilton), including J.R. Hilton, A camel-load of woad, unpublished and undated memoir (hereafter, Hilton memoir); and Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 467 (CMD ID 654), Correspondence and papers of Sir William Denis Battershill, unpublished and undated ‘Autobiography’ and diaries (hereafter respectively Battershill, Autobiography, and Battershill, Diary). Also, Pilides, George Jeffery.
6 Machluzarides, Illegalities. On the reliability of this source, see Appendix B.
7 Hill, History, 414; Rappas, Cyprus, 7.
8 Georghallides, Storrs, 10–11.
9 Battershill, Autobiography, 353.
10 Rappas, “Uncharted World,” 63.
11 Stanley, Keys, 108.
12 White, “Gunnis,” 48–50; Knox, “Portrait,” 85–6.
13 Stanley-Price, “Hilton.”
14 Green and Henry, Perfect journey, 123.
15 Stanley-Price, “Intrigue,” and Stanley-Price, “Hilton.”
16 Hilton memoir, 29; Harris, No voice, 87–8.
17 Machluzarides, Illegalities, Appendix C2, reproduced here as Appendix A.
18 Storrs, Orientations, 585; Georghallides, Storrs, 90, 112–3; Gunnis Diary, 7 January 1929.
19 Georghallides, Storrs; Rappas 2014, 1–3; Morgan, Sweet and bitter island, 126–33. Palmer associated Gunnis with the 1931 debacle (see Appendix A).
20 Georghallides, Storrs, 455–6, 702.
21 Storrs, Orientations, 364–70; Mazza, “Preservation and Safeguarding.”
22 Roueché, “Prehistory of the Department;” Stanley-Price, “Mogabgab.”
23 Gunnis, Historic Cyprus.
24 White, “Gunnis”, 48–9.
25 Government of Cyprus 1905, Sections 7 and 8.
26 Storrs, Orientations, 575–6; Gjerstad, Ages and Days, 172–4. For the modification of the Law, see http://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/arith/1927_1_006.pdf
27 Storrs, Orientations, 576–7.
28 Gunnis Diary, 7 March 1927; 23 January 1928.
29 Cyprus Gazette (hereafter, CG) 27 January 1928, 88. All issues of the Cyprus Gazette are online at www.cyprusdigitallibrary.org.cy
30 Gunnis Diary, 23 December 1926.
31 Gjerstad et al. Swedish Cyprus Expedition; Cyprus Museum Committee Minutes, 25 October 1930; Storrs, Orientations, 575–6; Gjerstad, Ages and days, 172–4.
32 Quoted by White, “Gunnis”, 53.
33 Gunnis Diary, 24 February 1928, 20 March 1928, 28 May 1928 and 14 June 1928.
34 Cyprus Museum Committee Minutes, 5 November 1932. For his leave of absence, see CG 11 November 1932, 777.
35 KCL Hilton, Box 1, R. Gunnis, letter, to J. Hilton, 20 August 1934, also quoted in Hilton memoir, 28.
36 Thomas, With Lawrence in Arabia, 17.
37 Roueché, “Prehistory,” 156–7.
38 Pilides, George Jeffery, 285–6; 357–9; and 354. See also Stanley-Price, “Intrigue.” For the Peers – Hill mission, see Roueché, “Prehistory.”
39 Gunnis Diary, 23 November 1930, and passim; KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 18 March 1952; Hurst, King Street, 144–5. For the Mogabgab – Hilton letters as sources, see Appendix B.
40 Stanley-Price, “Mogabgab.”
41 Stanley-Price, “Colonial society;” on influencing visitors’ opinions, see too Stanley-Price, “Intrigue.”
42 CO67 253/2, f 131, R.E. Stubbs, Governor, letter, to P. Cunliffe-Lister, Secretary of State, 20 February 1933.
43 Sotheby & Co., Catalogue.
44 KCL Hilton, Box 1, J.D. Beazley, letter, to J.R. Hilton, 11 November 1935; Ulbrich, “Cypriot Collection,” 26–7.
45 Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter, Cyprus Museum; Smith, “Histories of archaeology,” 32–3.
46 CO67 249/11, f 80, P. Dikaios, letter, to J.L. Myres, 20 September 1933.
47 CO 67 253/1, ff 157–158, J.L. Myres, letter, to G. Clauson, 17 January 1934.
48 CO 67 253/1, f 146, H.R. Palmer, letter, to H. Allen, 29 January 1934; Stanley-Price, “Intrigue and feud.”
49 Symons, “Gunnis,” 5–6; Wellcome Collection, “Dossier.”
50 Gunnis Diary, 31 August 1933; Wellcome Collection, E. Jay, letter, to L. Malcolm, 1 February 1930.
51 Symons, “Gunnis,” 5–6.
52 CO67 249/11, f 153, W.H. Buckler, letter, to G. Hill, 24 January 1933, quoted by Roueché, “Prehistory,” 159.
53 Miers and Markham, Museums Association.
54 Hill, Antiquities in Cyprus, 8.
55 Markides 1916, 3–4; Pilides, “Markides,” 11, a delegation of powers formally recognised in law in 1933; CG 20 January 1933, 36.
56 Hilton, “Letter to Colonial Secretary,” 88. On Taylor, see Hirschfeld, “Joan du Plat Taylor.”
57 Hilton, “Letter to Colonial Secretary,” 90; Powell, Love's obsession, 46–7, citing J.R.B. Stewart, letter, to A.J.B. Wace, 5 December 1935.
58 Merrillees, “Palma,” 414.
59 Gunnis Diary, 28 May 1928; Stanley-Price, “Colonial society.”
60 On the strength of the Police force with a predominance of Turkish Cypriots and the variety of tasks it undertook, see Rappas, Cyprus, 38–9, 75.
61 Gunnis Diary, 9 and 23 January 1927; 28 January 1929; 26 October 1929; KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 23 March 1952; Machluzarides, Illegalities, 76–7.
62 E.g., in Nicosia, Gunnis Diary, 4 February 1927; at Polis, Hilton, “Letter to Colonial Secretary”, 89; and at Komi-Kebir, White, “Gunnis,” 52.
63 Miers and Markham, Museums Association; Pilides, “Markides”, Fig. 2.2, a photo of Gunnis, Markides and policemen outside the Cyprus Museum, and White, “Gunnis”, Fig. 13, a group photo of Gunnis with personnel of the Famagusta Police department.
64 Hilton memoir, 27.
65 Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, Papers of Rupert Gunnis, Inv. no. 2011.218, Box 8.
66 KCL Hilton, G. Hill, letter to J. Hilton, 27 November 1935, private. Hill’s British Museum colleague and successor as Director, E.J. Forsdyke, was also fully aware of ‘malpractices’ in the island. KCL Hilton papers, Box 1, E.J. Forsdyke, letter, to ‘Jack’ (probably J.D. Beazley), confidential, 9 November 1935.
67 Hilton memoir, 30.
68 Richter, “Benevolent Autocracy;” Morgan, Sweet and Bitter Island, 134–9; Rappas, Cyprus, 64–71.
69 Hill, Antiquities, 5; Government of Cyprus 1935, Section 4.
70 The Department had started operating on 1 January 1935.
71 CO67/264 81, f 81, H.R. Palmer, Administrative Memorandum II, confidential, 6 February 1936, filed under correspondence dated June 1936.
72 CG 28 February 1936, 118.
73 Hilton, “Letter to Colonial Secretary”, 87, 92–3; KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 23 March 1952.
74 Hilton, “Letter to Colonial Secretary.”
75 CO67/264/8, f 80, Colonial Secretary, letter, to Acting Director Antiquities [P. Dikaios], 20 April 1936.
76 CO67/264/8, ff 90–98, W. Ormsby-Gore, letter, to H.R. Palmer, 18 June 1936, confidential.
77 Stanley-Price, “Intrigue.”
78 Battershill, Diary 4, 1st January–28th June 1936, entries for 18 June 1936 and 2 July 1936.
79 KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 21 March 1952. Montagu did indeed take leave of absence for illness on 21 January 1939 and retired from 30 June 1939 (CG 20 January 1939, 57 and 30 June 1939, 414). For a photo of Montagu and Gunnis with Storrs and his wife, see White, “Gunnis”, Fig. 6.
80 Gunnis Diary, 8 October 1936, 23 January 1937, 9 and 21 May 1937.
81 Knox, “Portrait,” passim; on his fellow-Old Etonians and Cyprus, see Stanley-Price, “Colonial society.”
82 Hilton memoir, 88; KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 18 March 1952.
83 KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 23 March 1952.
84 London Gazette 6 April 1934, 2281.
85 Gunnis Diary, 2 November 1934; White, “Gunnis,” 72, n.19.
86 Colonial Office, 53.
87 KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 18 March 1952.
88 Georghallides, Storrs, 703; Rappas, Cyprus, 3–4.
89 Hill, History, 558; Rappas, Cyprus, 89–91; see also Heraclidou, Imperial Control, 79; Markides, Cyprus tribute, 195.
90 A.J. Dawe, extract from letter to unknown correspondent, 21 July 1937, secret, reproduced in Machluzarides, Illegalities, Appendix B.
91 MacCarthy, Byron. Life and legend, 510.
92 Rappas, Cyprus, 88–122.
93 Gunnis Diary, 25 July 1938.
94 Rappas, Cyprus, 100–2; also, KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 21 March 1952.
95 Hill, History, 558.
96 Gunnis Diary, 7 February 1939.
97 White, “Gunnis”, 55. Rusthall is very close to Eridge where Gunnis lived, on the Kent/Sussex border.
98 Storrs and O’Brien, Handbook, 97.
99 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 74–5 and Appendix C1.
100 CG (Extraordinary) no. 1947, 17 October 1928, 723.
101 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 76 and Appendices C3 and C4.
102 KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 21 March 1952.
103 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 75–6 and Appendix C2 (reproduced here as Appendix 1).
104 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 76.
105 CG 23 June 1939, 408.
106 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 73.
107 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 42, listing articles in the Cypriot press published in July and August 1939; KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 21 March 1952.
108 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 73.
109 Morgan, Sweet and Bitter Island, 123. The membership rules excluded Cypriots. See too Hilton memoir, 73–4, 79–80.
110 Gunnis Diary, 12 July 1937.
111 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 52 with copy of the news clipping.
112 CG 3 August 1939, 467.
113 Battershill Diary, 18 June 1936.
114 W.D. Battershill, letter, to Colonial Secretary, 26 August 1939, most secret; reproduced in Machluzarides, Illegalities, 72.
115 Machluzarides, Illegalities, 75 quoting J.H. Ashmore, letter, to Attorney-General, 14 February 1940.
116 KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 21 March 1952.
117 Bertram, Room for diplomacy.
118 Morgan, Sweet and bitter island, 123–4; Georgiou, British colonial architecture, 163–5.
119 Antoniades, Catalogue.
120 KCL Hilton, Box 2, T. Mogabgab, letter, to J. Hilton, 23 March 1952.
121 Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, Papers of Rupert Gunnis, Inv. no. 2011.218, Box 8, A.H.S. Megaw, letter, to R. Gunnis, 13 December 1946; Cyprus State Archives: SA1/1091/1946, Mr R. Gunnis’ Library (my thanks to Pertev Basri for help with this file).
122 Gunnis Diary, 2 July 1927.
123 Gunnis Diary and Battershill, Diary, passim.
124 Paraphrasing Storrs quoted in Georghallides, Storrs, 45–6; Morgan, Sweet and bitter island.
125 Rappas, “Inside Palmerocracy,” 900–1.
126 Luke, Cities and Men, 90–1.
127 Battershill, Autobiography, 211–2.
128 Battershill, Autobiography, 377–9. ‘When I had left the Island to go to Palestine I had felt homesick for Cyprus for a long time. It is the only occasion in my life that I have been homesick. And now the idea of leaving the charms of Cyprus for the dullness and drabness of England appalled me.’ Hilton’s memoir reflects a similar nostalgia for the time he spent there.
129 Gunnis Diary, 30 November 1927.
130 Gunnis Diary, 30 December 1930.
131 CO67 253/2, f 167, G. Hill, letter, to A.J. Dawe, 17 July 1934.
132 CO67 264/8, f 80, Colonial Secretary, letter, to Acting Director Antiquities, 20 April 1936.
133 Stanley-Price, “Mogabgab.”