Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs (19 November 1881 – 1 November 1955) was an official in the British Foreign Office. He served as Oriental Secretary in Cairo, Military Governor of Jerusalem, Governor of Cyprus, and Governor of Northern Rhodesia.
Early life and education Storrs was born on 19 November 1881 in Bury St Edmunds to John Storrs, the then vicar of St Peter's Church and later Dean of Rochester, and Lucy Anna Marie Cust. One of six siblings, Storrs was the brother of Francis Storrs, an academic and intelligence agent, Monica Storrs, a missionary, and Christopher Storrs, an Anglican bishop. Storrs was the maternal cousin of Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow.
Educated at Temple Grove School and Charterhouse School, Storrs later enrolled at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Storrs graduated with a Bachelor's in Classical Tripos in 1903, after which he studied Arabic under Edward Granville Browne.
Foreign service Egypt Storrs entered the Finance Ministry of the Egyptian Government in 1904, five years later becoming Oriental Secretary to the British Agency, succeeding Harry Boyle in this post. In 1917, Storrs became Political Officer representing the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia as Liaison officer for the Anglo-French mission in Baghdad and Mesopotamia where he met Gertrude Bell and Sir Percy Cox.
T. E. Lawrence commented in Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
Storrs is credited with a classic example of British understatement when referring to the behaviour of the British toward the many tribal and regional leaders that the British were trying to influence in "The Great Game": "we deprecated the imperative, preferring instead the subjunctive or even, wistfully, the optative mood".
During the First World War Storrs was a member of the Arab Bureau and a participant in the negotiations between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British government, and in the organisation of the Arab Revolt. His own personal positions were that the Sharif Husayn was asking for more Arab territory than he had any right to, and that Syria and Palestine should be incorporated into a British-sponsored Egyptian empire as a replacement for the Ottoman Empire, a plan which was never implemented. Storrs is thought to have underestimated Arab Muslim resistance to non-Muslim rule.Ritchie Ovendale, 'Storrs, Sir Ronald Henry Amherst (1881–1955)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Palestine
In 1917, Storrs became Military Governor of Jerusalem, within the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, for which purpose he was given the British Army rank of colonel. "(Graded for purposes of pay as an A. A. and Q.M.G.)—Local Lt.-Col. R. Storrs, C.M.G., and to be temp. Col. whilst so empld. 27th Dec. 1917." He claimed to be "the first military governor of Jerusalem since Pontius Pilate".Michael Korda, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia , p. 353 He was in fact the second British military governor of Jerusalem, succeeding Brigadier General Neville Travers Borton, also known as Borton Pasha, who resigned after two weeks due to ill health.The handbook of Palestine; edited by Harry Charles Luke and Edward Keith-Roach. With an introd. by Herbert Samuel, p.22 In 1919, Storrs was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy.
The 1920 Nebi Musa riots occurred during his military governorship, and the following year he became Civil Governor of Jerusalem and Judea. In both positions he attempted to support Zionism while protecting the rights of the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and thus earned the hostility of both sides. Recent research by Moya Tönnies argues that, within his scope of action, he in fact acted against political Zionism.Moya Tönnies. Colonial Diplomacy through Art. Jerusalem 1918–1926. Leiden: Brill, 2024. He devoted much of his time to cultural matters, including town planning, and to the Pro-Jerusalem Society, a cultural organisation that he founded. Storrs acted as President of the Society. In 1918, he issued a requirement that all buildings in the city be faced with Jerusalem stone to maintain a consistent appearance.Wiener, Adi Sela; Medeghini, Laura; Favero, Gabriele. "The Lithic Journey of Jerusalem Stone: New Evidence of Ancient Quarries", Heritage, November 19, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2026. "While the stone building tradition exists across Israel’s mountainous regions, it is most deeply rooted in Jerusalem, where usage of stone was upheld by municipal legislature . This is due in large part to the 1918 so-called 'Stone Ordinance,' enacted by the city’s first British Governor Sir Ronald Storrs, which mandated the use of stone and prohibited “inappropriate” materials like plaster and tin in the Old City, and later, across what was then the entire city."Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel. "Jerusalem the beautiful It was not just faced in stone, it was actually built of stone, unlike much of the other work at the time, which was concrete and only faced in stone.', The Jerusalem Post, May 8, 2013. Accessed May 6, 2026. "It is worth recording that it was an edict of the British Mandate that has helped to preserve the present beauty of Jerusalem. It was in the 1920s that the first governor, Ronald Storrs, issued the decree that all buildings in Jerusalem had to be faced in the local stone. That ruling is still in effect today, and has helped to maintain the fine, homogeneous appearance of the city." His aesthetic interventions have been analysed as politically motivated pro-Arab "Colonial Diplomacy through Art."
In 1918, Storrs created the position of Grand Mufti of Jerusalem as the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including Al-Aqsa.See Islamic Leadership in Jerusalem for further details Kamil al-Husayni was the first to hold the position.The terminology was used as early as 1918. For example: states that Storrs wrote on 19 November 1918 "the Muslim element requested the Grand Mufti to have the name of the Sharif of Mecca mentioned in the Friday prayers as Caliph"
Palestine's first chess club was the International Chess Club founded in Jerusalem in 1918 by Storrs. The International Chess Club was an expression of the hope that it would unite the different nations – local Arabs and Jews, and European Christians of various nations who were then stationed in the city – and help promote peace and understanding. The club closed within a year due to the increasing tensions between the Arabs and Jews. A chess enthusiast, Storrs also helped to organise in 1919 the city's first championship which was won by Shaul Gordon, the founder of Mercantile Bank.
In Jerusalem, Storrs co-published a book dedicated to his uncle Harry Cust in 1918. He arranged for its printing by at the Stamperia Francescana in the Old City.
Cyprus and Rhodesia From 1926 to 1932, Storrs was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Cyprus. During his tenure, there was an attempted revolt (1931) during which Government House was burned to the ground.
Storrs was then appointed as Governor of Northern Rhodesia in 1932. He retired for health reasons in 1934, at the age of 53.
Later years Storrs was one of the six pallbearers at the funeral of T.E. Lawrence in 1935. In 1937, he published his memoirs Orientations. Between 1937 and 1945 he served on the London County Council, and during the Second World War he broadcast for the Ministry of Information.
Personal life
In 1923, Storrs married Louisa Lucy Storrs (, formerly Clowes).
On 1 November 1955, Storrs died at St Stephen's Hospital in Chelsea aged 73. Storrs is buried at St John the Baptist Church, in Pebmarsh, Essex.
Published books (limited edition of 128 copies)
Storrs, Ronald, Dunlop in War and Peace (Hutchinson & Co., 1946) – an account of the Dunlop Company and its importance during the Second World War.
References
Sources Faught, C. Brad (2026). Ronald Storrs: Governing British Jerusalem. London: I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury.
Tönnies, Moya. Colonial Diplomacy through Art. Jerusalem 1918–1926. Leiden: Brill, 2024.
External links
Memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs at Internet Archive.