Excerpt from Jerusalem, 1918-1920: Being the Records of the Pro-Jerusalem Council During the Period of the British Military Administration

Later in the year 1918, hearing of the presence in Egypt of the architect Mr. C. R. Ashbee, a friend and disciple of William Morris, a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and of the National Trust, and well known for his skill and enthusiasm for civic development with its kindred Arts and Crafts, I wrote to him requesting him to visit Jerusalem and write a report on its possibilities in this respect. That report is the germ of many of the undertakings which have since been carried out. Mr. Ashbee was appointed Civic Advisor and Secretary to the pro-jerusalem Council. Some le. 5000 were collected by direct appeal to those likely to be interested in Jerusalem, and the various projects and activities, a list of which is set forth by Mr. Ashbee, or may be referred to in Appendix III, were set in motion. A great impulse was given to the scope and status of the Society by the arrival of Sir Herbert Samuel as High Commissioner. His Excellency had, during his visit in the spring of 1920, attended a meeting of the Council, of which he had been unanimously elected a member, and signified his approval of our aims by a most encouraging speech as well as a generous subscription. Amongst many other causes_of gratitude the Society owes to him its Charter and an arrangement whereby the Government affords it a very considerable annual subvention.

It only remains for me to convey my personal thanks once again to all those benefactors and supporters whose names appear in the list given on pages 72-74. Of this publication, to call attention to the generosity of the gifts, and to invite all whom these pages may reach to forge in their lives a link with Jerusalem the living.

A reference, indeed, to the list of subscribers, and that is to say members of the Society, will show how wide the net is spread. Rever ence for Jerusalem and what it stands for in the life of man has been the motive that has inspired these gifts, and I make bold to hope that this record of two years' work in the safeguarding of the Holy City may gather in many hundreds of subscribers among the three great religions for which it stands as a beacon on a hill.

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