Pilgrim pioneers:
Britons on Hajj
before 1940
Friday 10 February
13.15Stevenson Lecture Theatre
William Facey, writer and publisher on the Arabian Peninsula, traces Britain’s relations with Islam back a thousand years.
The first recorded Briton to perform Hajj was Joseph Pitts of Exeter, who went to Mecca in about 1685. In 1933, Mecca welcomed its first British woman convert, Lady Evelyn Cobbold. In between, various Britons, both devout and fraudulent, made their way to Mecca, with motives as diverse as their personalities.
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Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam
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Hajj certificate (detail). 17th–18th century AD. Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (Khalili Family Trust)