Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley
| The Lord Headley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn 19 January 1855 London |
| Died |
22 June 1935 (aged 80) Wiltshire, England |
| Occupation | Muslim scholar |
Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley (19 January 1855 – 22 June 1935), also known as Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq, was an Irish peer and a prominent convert to Islam, who was also one of the leading members of the Woking Muslim Mission alongside Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. He also presided over the British Muslim Society for some time.[1]
Biography
Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn was born in London and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge University.[2][3] He then entered Middle Temple, before commencing studies at King's College London. He subsequently became a civil engineer by profession, a builder of roads in India, and an authority on the protection of intertidal zones.
He was an enthusiastic practitioner of boxing as well as other arts of self-defence, and in 1890 co-authored, with C. Phillipps-Wolley, the classic Broad-sword and Singlestick (1890).[4] He was solo author of Boxing (1889) in the same "All-England Series" (introduced by the boxer Bat Mullins) which was reprinted in 2006.[5]
Headley embraced Islam on 16 November 1913 and adopted the Muslim name of Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq. In 1914 he established the British Muslim Society. He was the author of several books on Islam, including A Western Awakening to Islam (1914) and Three Great Prophets of the World.[6] He was a widely travelled man and twice made the Hajj.
He inherited his peerage from his cousin in 1913. In 1921 he married the Australian author Barbara Baynton.[7] He became bankrupt in 1922.[8] He was offered the throne of Albania in 1925, along with $500,000 and $50,000 per year[9] but refused it, at which point Lady Headley returned to Melbourne, where she died in 1929.[7] From 1929 Headley owned and lived at Ashton Gifford House near the village of Codford in Wiltshire. His widow Lady Catherine Headley continued to live at the property until 1940.[10]
See also
- Sir Charles Edward Archibald Watkin Hamilton, 5th Baronet
- Henry Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley
- William Abdullah Quilliam
- Marmaduke Pickthall
- Faris Glubb
- Ahmad Thomson
- Timothy Winter
References
- ↑ http://www.wokingmuslim.org/pers/
- ↑ "Winn, Rowland George Allanson (WN874RG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ The New International Yearbook, 1936
- ↑ R. G. Allanson-Winn & C. Phillipps-Wolley, Broad-sword and Single-stick: with chapters on quarter-staff, bayonet, cudgel, shillalah, walking-stick, umbrella, and other weapons of self-defence (All-England Series.) London: George Bell, 1890.
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Boxing-Prefatory-Note-Bat-Mullins/dp/054397023X for the reprinted version of the book
- ↑ Headley's book: A Western Awakening to Islam at wokingmuslim.org
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Australian Dictionary of Biography
- ↑ Baynton, Barbara Jane (1857 - 1929) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online at www.adb.online.anu.edu.au
- ↑ Time magazine, "London's Mosque" 28 June 1937
- ↑ Dod's Peerage, 1942
External links
- Full details of the life, activities and writings of Headley
- Works by Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley at Project Gutenberg
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Allanson-Winn |
Baron Headley 1913–1935 |
Succeeded by Rowland Allanson-Winn |