Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Charles Noel (14 April 1886 – 10 December 1974) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

officer, diplomat and spy.

Relatives

The grandson of

Charles Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough Charles George Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough (5 September 1818 – 13 August 1881), styled Viscount Campden between 1841 and 1866, was a British peer and Whig politician. Background Gainsborough was the only child of Charles Noel, 1st Earl of ...

his father was the Earl's second son. He was the elder brother of Captain Noel an English mountaineer and filmmaker best known for his film of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition alongside

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. Born in Cheshire, Mallory became a student at Winchester ...

and Andrew Irvine. He was educated at

The Oratory School The Oratory School () is an HMC Co-educational independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, north-west of Reading. Founded in 1859 by Saint John Henry Newman, The Oratory has historical ties t ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and the Royal Military Academy,

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

. Commissioned initially in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

, he transferred to the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

in 1908. He cycled from England to India twice, in 1909 and 1910.

Political career

In 1915, he was appointed

Vice-Consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Ahwaz Ahvaz ( fa, اهواز, Ahvâz ) is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province. Ahvaz's population is about 1,300,000 and its built-up area with the nearby town of Sheybani is home to 1,136,989 inhabitants. It is home ...

in Persia and

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

for

Kerman Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...

and Persian Baluchistan in 1929. He aided

Peter Polovtsov Peter Alexandrovich Polovtsov, (russian: Пётр Александрович Половцов; , Tsarskoye Selo – 9 April 1964 Monte Carlo) was a Russian Tsarist General. Peter was the son of Alexander Polovtsov. Peter escaped from Russia in Fe ...

, a tsarist general to escape from Russia in 1918. Then, while carrying despatches for

Dunsterforce Dunsterforce was an Allied military force, established in December 1917 and named after its commander, Major-General Lionel Dunsterville. The force comprised fewer than 350 Australian, New Zealand, British and Canadian officers and NCOs, who ...

, Noel was held hostage by the Jangalis in 1919. He became a

Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

and was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

in 1919. In the aftermath of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he supported a creation of an independent Kurdistan and made extensive excursions through the region and had established good relations with descendants of

Bedir Khan Beg Bedir Khan Beg (Kurmanji: ''Bedirxan Beg'', tr, Bedirhan Bey; 1803–1869) was the last Kurdish Mîr and mütesellim of the Emirate of Botan. Hereditary head of the house of Rozhaki whose seat was the ancient Bitlis castle and descended from S ...

and

Sheikh Ubeydullah }) also known as ''Sayyid Ubeydullah'', was the leader of the first modern Kurdish nationalist struggle. Ubeydullah demanded recognition from Ottoman Empire and Qajar dynasty authorities for an independent Kurdish state, or Kurdistan, which he woul ...

Honours

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) in 1919. He was Political Agent for

Kurram Agency Kurram District ( ps, کرم ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Kohat Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.The name Kurram comes from the river Kuramá ( ps, کورمه) in Pashto which itself derives from the Sanskrit name Kr ...

in FATA in 1924. He commissioned to build a rest house in the

Chapri forest Chapri can ref to: * Chapri, Mianwali, village of Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan * Chapri, Nowshera Chapri is a hill station in Pabbi Tehsil of Nowshera District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Isl ...

Parachinar Parachinar ( ps, پاړه چنار; ur, ) is a small Pashtun ( Turi and Bangash tribe) town which is the capital of Kurram District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Parachinar is situated on a neck of Pakistani territory west ...

. He was Consul to Kerman and Persian Baluchistan in 1929. He was Deputy Commissioner of Dehra Ismail Khan in 1931. He was Director of Agriculture and Allied Departments, North-West Frontier Provinces in 1933. He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noel, Edward 1886 births 1974 deaths People educated at The Oratory School Royal Garrison Artillery officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

British Indian Army officers Recipients of the MacGregor Medal British expatriates in Iran