Henry McMahon (diplomat)

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, GCMG, GCVO, KCIE, CSI, KStJ (28 November 1862 Simla, British India &mdash; 29 December 1949 London, United Kingdom), was a British diplomat and Indian Army officer who served as the High Commissioner in Egypt from 1915 to 1917. He was also an administrator in British India, and served twice as Chief Commissioner of Balochistan. McMahon is best known for the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, as well as the McMahon Line between Tibet and India. He also features prominently in T.E. Lawrence's account of his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. He is usually known as Sir Henry McMahon.

Background
McMahon was the son of Lieutenant-General Charles Alexander McMahon, FRS, FGS (1830–1904), a geologist and Commissioner of both Lahore and Hisar in British India, and who, like his father Captain Alexander McMahon (born 1791 in Kilrea, County Londonderry, Ireland) had been an officer with the East India Company. The McMahons are the Gaelic clan of Mac Mathghamhna who had come originally from the medieval Irish kingdom of Airgíalla or Oriel in South Ulster/North Leinster, where they reigned from around 1250 until about 1600.

Sir Henry McMahon's own family had settled in the Downpatrick area of County Down before his great-grandfather, The Rev. Arthur McMahon, moved to Kilrea, where he was minister to the local Presbyterian congregation between 1789 and 1794: a prominent Irish Republican, The Rev. McMahon was a member of the National Directory of the Society of United Irishmen and one of their colonels in Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. He apparently fought at the battles of Saintfield and Ballynahinch and after the rebels' overall defeat had been able to flee to France where he served with Napoléon's Irish Legion. It is said that he was captured by the British during the Walcheren Campaign of 1809, and though sent to England, was later able to return to France where in June 1815 he eventually died fighting, it is believed, at either Ligny or of Waterloo.

Career
McMahon was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Indian Staff Corps in the 1880s and was appointed a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1894. By 1897, he had been promoted to captain and was appointed a Companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (CSI) in that year. He was promoted Major in the army in July 1901. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in 1906 and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1909. In 1911, on the occasion of the Delhi Durbar, he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and was appointed to the post of High Commissioner in Egypt in 1914. In 1915, he was made a Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ). He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG) in 1916 upon his retirement from the Indian Army. In 1920, he was awarded the Order of El Nahda, 1st Class, from the King of the Hejaz. In 1925, he was promoted to a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ).

Titles

 * 1862-1882: Arthur Henry McMahon
 * 1882-1894: Lieutenant Arthur Henry McMahon
 * 1894-1895: Lieutenant Arthur Henry McMahon, CIE
 * 1895-1897: Captain Arthur Henry McMahon, CIE
 * 1897-1901: Captain Arthur Henry McMahon, CSI, CIE
 * 1901-1906: Major Arthur Henry McMahon, CSI, CIE
 * 1906-1909: Major Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, KCIE, CSI
 * 1909-1911: Lieutenant Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, KCIE, CSI
 * 1911-1916: Lieutenant Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, GCVO, KCIE, CSI
 * 1916-1949: Lieutenant Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, GCMG, GCVO, KCIE, CSI