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“...the evil fate which seems to overtake our few good friends in the service of the Palestine Government makes me feel a greater bitterness than I can well express… You will have to consider whether you are prepared to face a good deal of unpleasantness in Palestine, or whether you would prefer to try to get transferred to some other service in a country where my friendship, and the friendship of the Jewish residents generally, will not count against you!”

CHAIM WEIZMANN. Typed Letter Signed, to Fred A. Partridge, London, December 6, 1931. On stationery personalized with Weizmann’s address: “Oakwood / 16 Addison Crescent / W14.” 2 pp., 6⅞ x 8⅞ in.

Inventory #26111       Price: $6,800

Complete Transcript

                                                                        6th December, 1931.

My dear Partridge,
I must apologise for not having replied sooner to your letter of the 21st November. I was greatly shocked by the news; the evil fate which seems to overtake our few good friends in the service of the Palestine Government makes me feel a greater bitterness than I can well express. My resentment at what has happened to you is the more difficult to bear in that I am afraid I may have been in some measure responsible; it is hard to feel that one’s friends are suffering for their friendship.

I have been thinking much about you; wondering how I can best be of service. I know only too well that nothing I can say – still less write, – can do anything to soften the blow. I need not tell you that anything I can do in a practical way will be very gladly done. After a good deal of thought, I have come to the conclusion that I ought not to advise you to appeal at once to the Home Government over the heads of the Palestine Administration, – at least, not until we have tried everything else first. What I propose to do, therefore, with your consent, is to try, indirectly, through friends at the Colonial Office, to get your case re-opened, and considered by the new High Commissioner. If we can get the decision reversed in Palestine, I think it will be much better for you, and will cause much less friction; and I feel that it is just possible that Wauchope, if properly approached, may see the matter in a truer light than the Palestine officials, and may use his influence. If that fails – and I admit there is no manner of certainty about it – then we shall <2>have to consider what we had best do. I am afraid that an appeal to London, over the heads of the Palestine people might, even if successful, result in making things very difficult for you in the Palestine Police Force. You will have to consider whether you are prepared to face a good deal of unpleasantness in Palestine, or whether you would prefer to try to get transferred to some other service in a country where my friendship, and the friendship of the Jewish residents generally, will not count against you! (I am sorry to talk like this, when I should be trying to cheer you up, but I know you will realise how I feel about the whole thing, and will make allowances accordingly.)

So – I have taken careful note of the information given in your letter, and will do everything in my power to use it effectively; naturally I cannot offer any assurances as to results. If I fail, it will not be for want of trying.

I am myself greatly worried and depressed, and acutely conscious of my own helplessness in the face of a world that looks more than ordinarily hostile. The present is so uninviting that I have to turn to the past for consolation: as you may possibly have seen, I am trying my hand at writing a few reminiscences. It is a change, and serves to keep my thoughts occupied. Then I am trying to take up chemistry again, but that is not so simple, after all these years.

Write to me, and let me know all your news. As soon as I have anything more definite to tell you, I shall send on the information at once.

With kindest regards from us both to you and to Madeleine, and my warmest good wishes, always,

                                                                        I am / Yours very sincerely,

                                                                        Ch. Weizmann

 

Historical Background
In 1917, Chaim Weizmann was able to persuade British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour to issue a Declaration in favor of the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.  Weizmann, a world-renowned chemist, served as president of the World Zionist Organization from 1920 to 1931 and again from 1935 to 1946.

From 1920 to 1948, Great Britain held the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, which was to facilitate the creation of a home state for Jews. The Palestine Police Force was a British colonial police organization established in Mandatory Palestine in 1920. In addition to preserving law and order, the Palestine Police Force also, as their numbers allowed, escorted tax collectors, served summonses issued by judicial authorities, and distributed government notices. By 1928, the Force had more than 2,100 officers of all ranks, composed of approximately 15 percent Jews, 60 percent Muslim Arabs, and 22 percent Christian Arabs, presided over by a few dozen British officers.

In this letter, Weizmann commiserated with Fred A. Partridge in Partridge’s recent dismissal. Weizmann hoped that the replacement of Mark Aitchison Young as Acting High Commissioner of Mandatory Palestine would bring a review of Partridge’s case. In 1932, Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope became the new High Commissioner.

In 1929, Partridge had become something of an international celebrity, when he averted an attack by more than a thousand well-armed Bedouins on Jews in Jerusalem.  The Bedouins had heard rumors that Jews were massacring Arabs in the wake of the Buraq Uprising in late August 1929. Partridge met with the chief sheik and diplomatically explained that rioting Arabs had attacked and killed more than 130 Jews and destroyed Jewish property. British police, not the Jews, had suppressed the riots, killing more than 110 Arabs. Satisfied that Jews were not massacring Arabs, the Bedouins returned to southern Palestine.

Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) was born in the Russian Empire, in what is now Belarus. In 1892, he went to Germany to study chemistry, and he taught Hebrew at an orthodox Jewish boarding school. He studied in Darmstadt, Berlin, and completed his studies in Switzerland with a doctorate in organic chemistry. After teaching in Switzerland, he moved to the United Kingdom in 1904. He taught chemistry at the University of Manchester for the next thirty years. He became a distinguished chemist, registering some one hundred patents, and provided important aid to British efforts in World War I, particularly to the Admiralty and Ministry of Munitions. As a leader of British Zionists, he convinced Prime Minister Arthur Balfour to support the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which led to the Balfour Declaration of 1917. He strongly encouraged Jewish settlement in Palestine, and was instrumental in the creation of the Jewish Brigade in the British Army in World War II. In May 1948, he became president of the provisional government of the new nation of Israel.  In 1949, Weizmann became the first president of Israel. Weizmann asked David Ben-Gurion to form a government, and Ben-Gurion became the new nation’s first Prime Minister. Reelected for a second term in 1951, Weizmann served as president until his death in November 1952.

Frederick A. Partridge, O.B.E. (1895-1965) was born in London and served in the Palestine Police Force for 14 years, including time as a district superintendent of police for the Northern District of Palestine. In 1920, he married Madeleine Adeliade Steinhardt (1890-1934) in Jerusalem. Eight months after her death in January 1934, he married Louise H. Strouse (1901-1991). Partridge seems to have retired by 1934, though at the beginning of World War II, he served as an Air Raid Precautions warden. In 1953, he received appointment as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Partridge died in Surrey, England.