Robin ''("Rob")'' Leonard Bidwell (25 August 1927 or 1929 in St Giles, London – 1994 in

Coney Weston Coney Weston is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, within the West Suffolk district. It is a primarily rural residential town that has dormitory town status. It is north of Ixworth and from Bury St Edmunds Etymology Coney West ...

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) was an English orientalist and author. He published many books about Yemen and Arabia as well as about French and British colonial history. After education at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. The school has been fully co-educational sinc ...

, Downside School and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

, he was sent as Intelligence Corps sergeant to the

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. From 1955 to 1959 he served as Political officer in Western Aden Protectorate in the hinterland of present-day Yemen. Thereafter as

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travelling editor for the Middle East he visited all Middle East and North African countries. In 1965 he returned to

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

where he earned his PhD in 1968 about the French administration in Morocco. Between 1968 and 1990 he had been Secretary and Librarian of the Middle East Centre in the Faculty of Oriental Studies in the University of Cambridge. From 1980 on he dedicated the rest of his life to his masterpiece ''Dictionary of Modern Arab History – An A to Z of over 2,000 entries from 1798 to the present day''.

Bibliography (selection)

*''Guide to Government Ministers'' (1971/73) *''Affairs of Kuwait'' (1971/73) *''Affairs of Arabia'' (1971/73) *''Morocco Under Colonial Rule – French Administration of Tribal Areas 1912–1956'' (1973) *''Arabian Studies'' (1974) *''Travellers in Arabia'' (1976) *''Guide to African Ministers'' (1978) *''The Two Yemens'' (1983) *''Arabian Gulf Intelligence'' (1985) *''Arabian Personalities of the Early Twentieth Century'' (1986) *''The Bulletin of the Arab Bureau in Cairo 1916–19'' (1986) *''New Arabian Studies'' (1993) *''Dictionary of Modern Arab History'' (1998)

References

External links

*The British Yemeni Society:
Obituary Robin Leonard Bidwell (1929–1994)
' *British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 21, Issue 1, 1994:
Robin Leonard Bidwell 1929–94
' *worldstatesmen.org:

' 1920s births 1994 deaths English explorers English spies English travel writers English orientalists Explorers of Arabia English Arabists 20th-century English historians Aden Protectorate people British expatriates in Egypt {{UK-explorer-stub