Cecil J. Edmonds

Cecil J. Edmonds (Kurdish: سسیل جان ئێدمۆنز, Sisíl Jan Idmonds‎) (26 October 1889 – 11 June 1979) was a British political officer who served with the British Expeditionary Forces in Mesopotamia and Norperforce in north-western Persia, and later in the civil administration of Iraq.

Early life

Cecil was the son of Rev. Walter and Laura Edmond. He received an education at Bedford School and Christ's Hospital before going on to Pembroke College, Cambridge.

From 1935 to 1945 he was adviser to the Ministry of Interior in Iraq. Edmonds recorded down his observations and experiences as a political officer in Iraqi Kurdistan between 1920 and 1925 in his famous book Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919-1925, which provides detailed notes on social and political conditions, personalities and local practices in the districts where he served.

Edmonds showed great interest in the various heterodox religious communities that he had encountered while serving in Kurdistan. Trained as an Orientalist, he had become acquainted with the Kurds when serving the British Administration of Iraq.