The Middle East Centre

Abstract

St Antony’s interest in Middle East studies arose very early in its life. In 1954 Sir Hamilton Gibb, professor of Arabic at Oxford, enquired whether the college would be able to attach to itself Frank Stoakes, on leave as political adviser to the Iraq Petroleum Company in Baghdad, who was anxious to obtain an academic post. Gibb required someone in the university to be interested in Arabic history apart from linguistic studies and Stoakes seemed a promising candidate. James Joll, the Subwarden, told Gibb that St Antony’s had for some time been considering appointing a research or official fellow in Middle East studies, and the college agreed to find the money for a fellowship. Other ideas floated at the time were that the college needed an economist, and perhaps the two posts could be amalgamated; if not, a fellow in Middle East studies should take priority over an economist.¹ Thanks to a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Stoakes accepted, from October 1955, a research fellowship in Middle East studies at £800 a year.²