Hawley, Donald 1921-2008 (Donald Frederick Hawley)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born May 22, 1921, in Thorpe Bay, England; died January 31, 2008. Public servant, diplomat, and author. Hawley spent most of his civilian and diplomatic career in the Arab world and, despite other postings, it is there that he reportedly felt most at home. He worked as a district commissioner, magistrate, and registrar in Sudan for more than ten years. After the Sudanese achieved independence from British control in 1956, he transferred to the Foreign Service and filled diplomatic positions in Dubai, Egypt, Nigeria, Iraq, and Oman, ending his career as the British high commissioner to Malaysia from 1977 to 1981. Then, in retirement, he became active in organizations that promoted multicultural activities, including the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, and began a writing career. Whereas much of his diplomatic career had been devoted to bringing the modern world to traditional countries such as Oman, his writings represented an attempt to explain the Middle East to the modern West. He wrote histories, reminiscences, travel guides, and guides to proper behavior and polite manners as practiced in the area of the Persian Gulf. Hawley was highly regarded in the Arab world and respected in his homeland as well; he was created a knight of the prestigious Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1978. His writings include Oman and Its Renaissance, published originally in 1977 and in a sixth edition under a slightly different title in 2005; Debrett's Manners and Correct Form in the Middle East (1984); Sandtracks in the Sudan (1995); an edited collection, Sudan Canterbury Tales (1999); and The Emirates: Witness to a Metamorphosis (2007). He had published a memoir of his years in the Middle East in 2000; his last book was a historical tribute to the little Wiltshire village of Cheverell, where he spent his last days.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Hawley, Donald, Desert Wind and Tropic Storm, Michael Russell (Wilby, England), 2000.

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), February 15, 2008, p. 67.