Walter Burton Harris

Walter Burton Harris (29 August 1866 – 4 April 1933) was a journalist, writer, traveller and socialite who achieved fame for his writings on Morocco, where he worked for many years as special correspondent for The Times. He settled in the country at the age of 19, eventually building himself a fine villa in Tangier where he lived for much of his life. His linguistic skills and physical appearance enabled him to pose successfully as a native Moroccan, travelling to parts of the country regarded as off-limits to foreigners. He wrote a number of well-regarded books and articles on his travels in Morocco and other countries in the Near and Far East. Harris also played a significant, though not always constructive, role in the European diplomatic intrigues that affected Morocco around the turn of the 20th century.

Early career and travels Harris was born in London as the second son of a prosperous shipping and insurance broker, Frederick W. Harris. His siblings included Sir Austin Edward Harris, who became a noted banker, Frederick Leverton Harris, a British Member of Parliament, and pianist and composer Clement Harris, who was killed in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. He was educated at Harrow School and (briefly) at Cambridge University and had already managed to travel around the world by the age of 18.

He soon won the respect of the Moroccans for his exploits and made some unlikely friends, such as the mountain chieftain Raisuni who repeatedly fought the Moroccan government (and later the Spanish) during the first 25 years of the 20th century. Harris was captured and briefly imprisoned by Raisuni, regaining his freedom via a prisoner exchange, but came to establish a friendship with the chieftain and later wrote admiringly about him. He was also a confidant of at least three Moroccan sultans and built himself a fine home in Tangier, the Villa Harris.

Journalistic career and political involvement Harris began writing for The Times in 1887 and became a permanent correspondent from 1906, at a time when Morocco was becoming a focus for conflict between the European powers. He had a first-hand view of the dynastic conflicts and political weaknesses that culminated in Morocco becoming a protectorate of France and Spain in 1912 and chronicled the events of that period in a series of articles for The Times, as well as writing a number of books on his travels in Morocco. He also travelled further afield, visiting Egypt, the Near East and the Far East. It was eventually renovated and opened on 2021/03/16 as a museum, with exhibits donated by Moroccan art collector El Khalil Belguench that include works by Jules Jacques Veyrassat, Jacques Majorelle, , Claudio Bravo, Muhammad Ben Ali Ribati, , Ahmed Yacoubi, and Mohamed Hamri.

Works The Land of the African Sultan: Travels in Morocco, 1887, 1888, and 1889 (Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1889) A Journey through the Yemen (William Blackwood, 1893) Tafilet: The Narrative of a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the North-west Sahara (William Blackwood, 1895) Gutenberg From Batum to Baghdad by way of Tiflis, Tabriz and Persian Kurdistan (William Blackwood & Son, 1896) Morocco That Was (William Blackwood & Sons, 1921; new edition by Eland in 2002) France, Spain and the Rif (Arnold, 1927) East for Pleasure: The Narrative of Eight Months' Travel in Burma, Sian, the Netherlands East Indies and French Indo-China (Arnold, 1929) East Again: The Narrative of a Journey in the Near, Middle and Far East (Butterworth, 1933)

A diary belonging to Harris describing his travels in Europe during the 1880s or 1890s is held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.

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