Cecil J. Edmonds

Cecil J. Edmonds (26 October 1889 – 11 June 1979) was a British political officer who served with the British Expeditionary Forces in Mesopotamia and North Persia Force in north-western Persia and later in the civil administration of Iraq.

Early life Cecil was the son of Missionary Rev. Walter and Laura Edmond and was born and raised in Japan until the age of eight.

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 that 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 he served in the British administration of Iraq.