Major Frank Holmes A Tough And Patient New Zealander

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29222, 4 June 1960, Page 10

Major Frank Holmes A Tough And Patient New Zealander

IBy

GUY H. SCHOLEFIELD, C.M.G.,

D.Sc., Editor of the Dictionary

*-<*-<4 4 4-« » <«Z, V .4'4 of New Zealand Biography]

“Major Frank Holmes was uniquely responsible for discovering the vast petroleum resources of Arabia. He was an outstanding personality in the Middle East, especially among the Arab Sheiks of the western shore of the Persian Gulf, who appreciated both the formidable personality of this rugged New Zealander and the great riches which the initiative of the Father of Oil brought to their coffers. Of powerful physique, blunt speech and great strength of character, Holmes had also those qualities of generosity, friendliness and frankness w'hich Arabia most admires.” ,

This tribute in “The Times,” London, of February 5, 4947, at the time of Holmes’s death, described a man who was unknown outside the oil industry and practically unknown in New Zealand, where he was born and lived till manhood.

His engineer father, James Holme (or Holmes), migrated to New Zealand with his wife about 1870, and was employed by the Government to build a bridge near Bluff. On November 25, 1874, a son was born and christened Francis. The surname was spelt Holmes simply because people would say it that way. James Holmes moved to Otago, where he farmed, and Frank was probably sent to primary school, though the only record of his education is in the register of the Otago Boys’ High School, where he was a pupil in 1888-89. When he was about 20, Frank, a tall youth, left New Zealand with an uncle for South Africa. From the Rand ■ goldfields, Frank went to Australia and worked for a few months in the Melbourne Mint.

In 1897, when he was 23, he married Miss Nina Eccles, the daughter of a child specialist in the Melbourne Hospital. A year later, when their son was born, he was gold mining at Broken Hill.

After another visit to South Africa, Holmes went to Malaya, where he was employed by the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company at Singapore until the dock was

bought by the Admiralty in 1905. Holmes had never studied geology or passed through the Otago School of Mines, but he was amassing practical experience in both mining and engineering. His next engagement took him to Russia, and from there he went to a gold mining appointment in Mexico.

In 1909 a daughter was bom and in the following year mother and daughter died. After this tragedy Holmes, who was now associated with the London financiers Edward R. Janson and Torbutt, went on their behalf to Montevideo to negotiate for the purchase of a lightering company.

In England, just before the outbreak of war in 1914, Frank Holmes married Dorothy Pendlebury, daughter of the Secretary —and later Director—of Education for the County of Shropshire.

Just as Holmes and his wife were about to return to Uruguay the war broke out. At that time there were dozens of New Zealanders, graduates of the Otago School of Mines and others, scattered over the distant frontiers of civilisation. Many hurried to England to volunteer their services.

In August, 1914, at an office in Charing Cross Road, a fantastic dream of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, was being brought into reality. A hybrid force, which was to feel the way for troop landings, was based on two brigades of the highly-trained Royal Marines and one new formation, and these together would constitute the Royal Naval Division. Though its function from the outset was military, it was fostered by the Admiralty and in its ranks and customs followed the naval tradition.

The prospect of service appealed strongly to young men in all walks of life and among early recruits were Rupert Brooke, Douglas Jerrold, Arthur Asquith and Bernard Freyberg. One of the many who were interviewed -by the Chief of Staff of the Royal Naval Division, Major G. S. Richardson, was the 40-year-old Frank Holmes. In this burly, humorous figure Richardson recognised at once the type of man and experience required for his divisional train. Major Frank Holmes, R.M., .was gazetted forthwith as Senior Supply Officer.

After service at Antwerp the division went into training in England, and in March, 1915, landed in Gallipoli. Holmes served throughout to the evacuation and was twice mentioned. After the evacuation the Royal Naval Division went into training again in England and then, as the 63rd Division, took its place in the line in Flanders (where Freyberg gained the distinction of V.C.). The Middle East In 1918 Holmes was detached from the Royal Naval Division for special duty elsewhere—to Abyssinia to purchase meat for the troops in Mesopotamia. He had lys headquarters at the British Embassy in Addis Ababa, and appears to have bought beef cattle in both Abyssinia and the Italian colony of ■ Eritrea and shipped them to Basra. Thus he had his first glimpse of the Arab world and a close acquaintance with the busy Persian Gulf. The award of the Italian Order of Chevalier of the Crown of Savoy was probably earned on this assignment.

Addis Ababa was one of the oddest corners to which the little war paper, “The New Zealander,” penetrated. Each issue contained a cablegram from Mr W. H. Atack, manager of the New Zealand Press Association in Wellington with the New Zealand racing results. Mrs Holmes spent a few weeks in Abyssinia while her husband was reporting on openings for British trade. He had as yet no special interest in oil, but no doubt he had noticed seepages in Arabia and elsewhere. On demobilisation, Holmes went to England to confer with his business associates. The outcome was that E. R. Janson organised a small London syndicate which was unnoticed at the time, but which *was destined to play its part in great events. The object of the Eastern and General Syndicate was to acquire oil concessions in the Middle East and sell the options to producing companies which could develop the fields. Persia was then practically the only oil country in that region, and Anglo-

Persian company the leading operator. This was another brain child of the far-seeing Winston Churchill. As First Lord of the Admiralty in 1909 he foresaw the conversion of the navy to oil fuel and practically forced the Government to take a controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

Its success was fabulous. In a few years the great new city of Abadan had sprung up in the wilderness of the Tigris delta. Persian and other labour poured in to partake of its prosperity, and the company spread the benefits of orderly government far and wide. This did not mean that the British Government intended to encourage State intervention in industry. All it wanted was to safeguard its interests in these rich fields, and to that end it made a treaty with the Sultan of Nejd, Ibn Saud, by which he agreed not to grant leases in any of his territory to companies which had not British approval. Treaties were made with many minor sheiks with the same object

Confidence Of Arabs

When Frank Holmes left for the Middle East in 1921 as the Arabs principal prospector and agent of the syndicate, the special qualifications which were to bring him unparalleled success were not obvious. He was 47 years of age. He was not a company executive or a civil engineer or a geologist, though he had 25 years of useful experience. He was of powerful physique, blunt speech and strong character; he had rather an awkward gait, and looked ungainly on a donkey. He was always deferential to Arab prejudices and customs, but he did not pretend to be an Arab. On the contrary, in the desert he often wore a thick tweed lounge suit and sun helmet. Holmes paid his attention first to the little shiekdoms nearest to the Persian border. He made his headquarters at the island of Bahrein, famed for many years as a pearling centre, but now wilting sadly under the competition of Japanese cultured shell. Some of the x Bahrein merchants could speak a little English and one had a son, a competent linguist, who was glad to act as interpreter to the unorthodox Englishman. Completely trustworthy and loyal, Yateem initiated Holmes into the Arab way of life and manners, though Holmes never mastered the language. Time does not count with the Arab. Undue haste in coming to the point is liable to cause suspicion. Holmes was a great raconteur w.ith a store of tales which could be told leisurely and discreetly through an interpreter. On the whole it seems that he gained the confidence of his Arab friends more easily by- trusting himself to Arab interpreters. He actually took one of the Yateem family to England to be educated at the Brighton Grammar School. In order to cultivate the friendr ship of the sheiks and to keep an eye on likely competitors, Britain had as High Commissioner at Bushire no less a person than Sir Percy Cox. Between Two Camps In 1922 Sir Percy Cox called a conference to be held on the mainland near Bahrein at which he could discuss with Ibn Saud and some sheiks the adjustment of their mutual boundaries. Holmes considered this an excellent opportunity for him to put in an appearance. When he got to Uqair he- found the Sultan encamped in great state and panoply, with a retinue of slaves, a brilliant cavalry escort and every luxury. A short distance away was the less showy tent of the High Commissioner and his staff. Holmes had his modest tent erected between the two.

Sir Percy Cox was surprised—perhaps not altogether pleased—to observe the easy manner in which this strange waddling giant was received by the Arabs in both camps. For a man who could not speak the language he seemed very much at home. Moreover; he was wearing with his heavy tweeds a sun helmet and white shirt and collar! The diplomat was as cordial as protocol permitted. He suspected that sooner or later oil concessions would be broached and he advised Holmes not to be precipitate; quite an unnecessary injunction to a man who never mentioned a matter of business to Arabs until every other possible topic had been exhausted.

Holmes was an interested spectator during the boundary discussions, joining one party or the other for an occasional meal and merely letting it be known that at some time he would like to discuss oil with Ibn Saud. Nothing eventuated at the conference, but a few months after this apparent failure Holmes received from Ibn Saud the concession he desired and, as a mark of goodwill, a fine Arab mare for himself and a foal for Mrs Holmes, who was living in Bahrein at the time.

The Eastern and General itself could npt finance this concession and at the moment no British company was interested, but Holmes’s achievement broke the ice for further progress Water For Bahrein Meanwhile the New Zealander found a more manageable undertaking in Bahrein itself. The sheif, Hamel al Khalifa, was not interested in oil. What his impoverished territory did want, and most urgently, was fresh water. With only a few inches of rain in the year, it was impossible to provide drinking water for the hundreds of camels which brought most of the Arabian trade to Bahrein.

With “unmatchable audacity,” as one biographer says. Holmes made a proposition to the sheik: he would drill two water bores in Bahrein. If they succeeded he would get £4OOO for each, and the sheik would afterwards discuss the matter of oil. A drilling plant was brought but under the charge Professor Madgwick. of Birmingham University, and for several anxious months the cheerful New Zealander watched his rigs and sustained the banter of friends and critics.

Then suddenly the water came

’gushing to the surface. The miracle had occurred. Holmes was the hero of the day, which the Sheik of Bahrein celebrated with natiopal rejoicings. The economic outlook was substantially improved, and six months later Eastern and General were granted a concession to drill for oil in Bahrein.

Americans Take Option Over Automatically the option was offered to the leading British oil companies. Anglo-Persian with its controlling percentage of British capital, was fully employed with its massive undertaking in Persia, and could not consider new enterprises outside that country. As the period of the option gradually petered out, Holmes saw his hopes dwindling. There was nothing for it but to try in America. Accordingly he went to New York and there, in the nick of time, the Gulf Oil Corporation took over the option. Even Gulf could not go alone, ‘but it interested Standard Oil of California which, in co-operation with Texas Oil, got round the British veto in 1930 by forming a subsidiary company in Canada in which they held equal shares.

Thus the Bahrein Petroleum Company came into existence as a quasi-British undertaking managed by British personnel. That at least must have _ been comforting to the gallant New Zealander whose efforts had been entirely directed towards British development. Bahrein Petroleum got to work at once. Oil was- struck in 1932 and by 1934 40,000 tons of crude oil was being produced. In 1936 it was 620,000 tons. A new city had arisen on the rubble of the ancient town. Thousands of workers flocked in from Arabia and Persia, soon to enjoy cinemas, schools, hospitals, and swimmingpools. Oil had rescued the sheikdom from economic disaster. The amazing success of Bahrein enlivened competition throughout Arabia and, incidentally, made it harder for modest middlemen like Eastern and General to compete. The Epic Of Kuwait In 1924, shortly after the boundaries of the Kuwait neutral zone had been agreed to, Holmes got his first concession from the Sheik Ahmed Ibn Subah. Becoming aware almost immediately of the pressure of the Anglo-Persian Company, he strengthened his position by obtaining a permit from the Sheik Abdullah to explore the desolate hinterland adjoining Kuwait. By this he kept alive the Gulf Corporation’s interest and made Kuwait the most keenly contested option in the Middle East. Py the irony of events the New Zealander Holmes was now the advocate of an American oil company against the claims of a British concern already massively established in the region. Wayne Mineau says in “The Go-Devils”: “This humorous man who knew little of oil or geology and had hardly a word of Arabic, yet with his waddling gait walked into the confidence of merchants, sheiks and royal personages all over the desert stage.” As one sheik said: “If Holmes had done nothing more than bring Bahrein sweet water we would never have forgotten him, but he also gave us oil and our prosperity.” Many called him Abu el Naft (the Father of Oil).

There was now only the two contenders for the Kuwait field an'd Anglo-Persian called in to watch their interests a 30-year-old Englishman from their Abadan executive staff, Archibald H. T. Chisholm, who, H. Longrigg says, "epitomised the serenity and strength of character of a succession of British advisers who had helped to keep the sheikdom prosperous and intact from aggression, and the reputation of the company he represented was unassailable.” Chisholm, who is still an executive of British Petroleum in London, was well aware of the advantage that Holmes enjoyed —twice his own age, many times his experience, and the prestige of having acquired three of the most important concessions in Arabia. Two Parallel Struggles Month after month these two lived almost as neighbours in Kuwait, meeting with invariable courtesy and no rancour, each making his calls on the sheik, each in turn suggesting some new clause in the agreement which was being discussed and knowing that his rival would act accordingly. Holmes had his occasional game of auction bridge with the Arabs, and he met Chisholm every week or so in the American church on Sunday. In the long tussle for position these two represented on the spot two great corporations in England and America. But there was a parallel struggle being waged between the Chancellories of London and Washington—Sir John Simon, and against him Andrew W. Mellon, the American Ambassador and financier, arguing rather impatiently the cause of American private enterprise against the unusual apparition of a State-financed British corporation. By December, 1933, the talks in Arabia, with the sheik holding the ring, came to a deadlock and the diplomats finally agreed to a compromise under which a joint British-American company should acquire all the facilities at Kuwait and develop the oil.

The Kuwait Oil Company was floated in 1934, the first well spudded in 1936, and in 1938 the drills were gushing in the desert at Burgan, the “barren hinterland.” Kuwait was in full production by 1946. Upon the dead city and desert civilisation, order and economic prosperity beamed. In 1951 Kuwait had a population of 206,000. In 1958 the revenue of the sheikdom was equal to £5OO a year for every man, woman and child.

Yet, for Holmes, irony reached its height even in this achievement. "Ten years earlier,” says Mineau, “Anglo-Persian had stymied his personal efforts to win the Kuwait concession for Britain. Now, instead of the whole, the British company was settling for half. Thus dramatically did British Petroleum (BP),

as Anglo-Persian was called after 1954, come into the enjoyment of a rich legacy of Holmes’s ‘unmatchable audacity’.” Frank Holmes, accompanied by his wife, spent a good deal of each year in the Middle East—in Bahrein, Kuwait, Iraq, and the Trucial Coast, then returning to their farm at Chelmsford, Essex. In later years, too, he was the official representative in London for the Sheik of Kuwait. The Arab horses, of course, are dead, but Mrs Holmes still maintains the pedigree Friesian herd, milking about 30 cows and running 15 to 20 young stock. I have to thank her for verifying the facts about her distinguished husband and their son, an officer in the Indian Army, who died in 1938 at the age of 40. Henry Longhurst, in "Adventure in Oil,” says of Frank Holmes: “Holmes must have been rather a splendid fellow, and there is little doubt that, hard as he bargained, in his heart he would as soon have been on the other side. He was a big rugged man, a good patriot, good company and possessed of a sense of humour and an ability to tell stories which endeared him to the Arab world despite the fact that he never learned a word of their language.”