Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley explained

The Lord Headley
Birth Date:19 January 1855
Birth Place:London, England
Birth Name:Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn
Death Place:Codford, Wiltshire, England
Burial Place:Brookwood Cemetery
Nationality: United Kingdom (-12 April 1927)
Education:Bachelor of Arts
Alma Mater:Trinity College, Cambridge, King's College, London
Occupation:Muslim scholar
Organization:Institution of Civil Engineers
Family:Baron Headley

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]

Biography

thumb|140px|left|Lord Headley with Khwaja Kamal-ud-DinRowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn was born in London and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge University.[2] 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).[3] He was solo author of Boxing (1889) in the same "All-England Series" (introduced by the boxer Bat Mullins) which was reprinted in 2006.[4] In 1899 he married Teresa Johnson, daughter of William H. Johnson, former Wazir-wazirat (governor) of Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir), India.[5] She died in 1919.

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.[6] 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.[7] He became bankrupt in 1922. He was offered the throne of Albania in 1925, along with $500,000 and $50,000 per year[8] but refused it, at which point Lady Headley returned to Melbourne, where she died in 1929.[7] 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.[9] He is buried in the Muslim section of Brookwood Cemetery.

Armenian genocide denial

Baron 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.[10]

See also

References

Work cited

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Woking Muslim Mission, England, 1913-1960s > Personalities.
  2. The New International Yearbook, 1936
  3. Book: R. G.. Allanson-Winn. C.. Phillipps-Wolley. 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. 1890.
  4. Book: Boxing: With prefatory note by bat Mullins. 978-0543970237. Rowland George Allanson-Winn Headley. 11 October 2004.
  5. The Age (Melbourne), 14 February 1921:5 "About People", accessed through Trove, 28 Apr. 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201698943
  6. http://wokingmuslim.org/pers/headley/west-awake.htm Headley's book: A Western Awakening to Islam
  7. Book: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070221b.htm . Barbara Jane Baynton (1857–1929). Biographical entry, Australian biography database. Baynton, Barbara Jane (1857–1929) . adb.online.anu.edu.au. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University .
  8. Time magazine, "London's Mosque" 28 June 1937
  9. Dod's Peerage, 1942
  10. Book: Long, Andrew C. . 2014 . Reading Arabia: British Orientalism in the Age of Mass Publication, 1880-1930 . Syracuse, New York . . 156–157 . 978-0-8156-3323-5.