Our Man in Fez: James Maciver MacLeod

Abstract

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 44, 3, 2019 © The Maghreb Review 2019 This publication is printed on FSC Mix paper from responsible sources OUR MAN IN FEZ: JAMES MACIVER MACLEOD JOHN FISHER* After some years of relative neglect, the role and functions of British consuls are again coming under scrutiny.1 This development is well deserved given their vital role as the eyes and ears of central government in Whitehall, in countries outside the settled empire. Their work reflected many aspects of British power projection overseas, some of which have yet to be fully investigated. Extant literature, notably Desmond Platt’s work, might suggest that, during the nineteenth century in particular, they were, often with good reason, rather troublesome and often disgruntled, frequently succumbing to what one of their number described as ‘consulitis’: that is a permanent sense of inferiority towards and jealousy of their more elevated cousins in the Diplomatic Service.2 An uncomplaining British consul who, through prolonged residence especially at a difficult post, acquired formidable expertise in that country’s affairs, was relatively rare, and typically earned the respect of British diplomats and Foreign Office officials. James MacIver MacLeod (1866–1944), who spent much of his professional life in successive consular appointments at Fez, fell into that category; a faithful and diligent servant of successive British ministers in Tangier, his characteristics were noted by Edward Gleichen, soldier, intelligence-gatherer and military attaché, when attached to an official mission to Fez, in 1909: Consul J. McLeod [sic] is a very hard-working, conscientious little man, who enters so much into details that he occasionally runs the risk of overdoing it. He is a hard-headed intelligent Scotsman, who knows the people, the language, and the country well, and has excellent judgement. He is very self-reliant, and has a taste for maps and procuring information of all sorts, both military and otherwise. A most useful man in every way.3 MacLeod is interesting for several reasons. First, there was his background. * University of the West of England. Faculty funding from University of the West of England, Bristol, facilitated research for this article and is gratefully acknowledged. 1 See, for example, G. R. Berridge, ‘A Political Consul in Nineteenth-Century Armenia’, in Berridge, The Counter-Revolution in Diplomacy and other essays (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2011), pp. 50–70; and, while it ranges more widely than the Consular Service, G. Hamm, ‘British Intelligence in the Middle East, 1898–1906’, Intelligence & National Security, 29/6 (2014), pp. 880–900; R. Dunley, ‘“Not Intended to Act as Spies”: The Consular Intelligence Service in Denmark and Germany 1906–14’, International History Review, 37/3 (2015), pp. 481–502. 2 D. C. M. Platt, ‘The Role and Function of the British Consular Service in Overseas Trade 1825–1914’, Economic History Review, 15/3 (1963), 494–512 and idem, The Cinderella Service: British Consuls since 1825 (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1971); L. Grafftey-Smith, Bright Levant (London: John Murray, 1970), p. 13. 3 ‘Report by the Military Attaché with the British Mission from Tangier to Fez and back, April– June 1909’, Inclosure 1 in War Office to Foreign Office, 23 July 1909, F[oreign] O[ffice] 371/696/3974/27920, T[he] N[ational] A[rchives], Kew. Gleichen’s description of the ‘selfstyled physician in chief to the Sultan’, ‘Dr’ Lancelot Wilkinson, as ‘a lunatic, a dipsomaniac, and a megalomaniac’ was no less accurate. Wilkinson had just been sacked and had a deep grudge against MacLeod, who appears to have sought redress through the Lord Chief Justice. 292 JOHN FISHER After local schooling in Glasgow, South Lanarkshire and Argyllshire, and on account of his father’s death and his mother’s delicate health, he attended Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, as a boarder.4 There, he enjoyed various sports, endured frequent beatings, and did reasonably well in several subjects, notably history and poetry. However, he left the academy in 1880 and began an apprenticeship, nominally with his uncles’ firm in Manchester, which shipped cotton to West Africa. In practice, he spent time with a succession of other textile firms in Manchester. There, and for a time in Glasgow, he also served in the army reserves, and actively...