Major Robert Ernest Cheesman

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1878, Ashford, Kent – 13 February 1962) was an English military officer,

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

, ornithologist and author. He is noted for being one of the first to map the Arabian coast and credited with the discovery of a rodent, named after him, Cheesman's gerbil (''Gerbillus cheesmani'').

Life and career

He was one of the five children of Florence Maud Tassell (d. 1944) and Robert Cheesman (d. 1915), a gentleman farmer of modest means. Cheesman was Private Secretary to Sir Percy Cox during his tenure as High Commissioner in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. In 1923, during a journey into the Arabian Peninsula, Cheesman collected over 300 specimens from the

Al-Ahsa Oasis ''Al-Aḥsāʾ'' ( ar, الْأَحْسَاء, ''al-ʾAhsā''), also known as al-Ḥasāʾ () or Hajar (), is a traditional oasis historical region in eastern Saudi Arabia whose name is used by the Al-Ahsa Governorate, which makes up much of th ...

, several of them previously unknown to science. These specimens are currently in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. During this period, he was accompanied by his sister, Evelyn Cheesman, a noted entomologist, painter and prolific author. He is credited with discovering Cheesman's gerbil (''Gerbillus cheesmani''). Cheesman was the first man to map the Arabian coast from the

Gulf of Salwah The Gulf of Salwah (Dawhat Salwah) is the southern portion of the Gulf of Bahrain. The Gulf of Salwah is a narrow bay separating the peninsula of Qatar from Saudi Arabia. It is bordered to the west by a well-vegetated shoreland containing palm tree ...

Uqair Uqair (), alternatively spelled as al-'Uqair, Uqayr, and Ogair, is an ancient seaport city in the Al-Ahsa Governorate of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It is the first seaport in the Persian Gulf and has been linked by some to the ancient ...

. In 1924 he fixed the position of

Hofuf Al-Hofuf ( ar, ٱلْهُفُوف ', also spelled Hofuf or Hufuf, also known as "Al-Hasa", "Al-Ahsa" or "Al-Hassa") is the major urban city in the Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, with a population of 858,395 (as of 202 ...

and identified the site of ancient

Gerrha Gerrha ( grc, Γέρρα, translit=Gérrha) was an ancient and renowned city within Eastern Arabia, on the west side of the Persian Gulf. History Prior to Gerrha, the area belonged to the Dilmun civilization, which was conquered by the Assyria ...

. He presented his findings to Ibn Sa'ud at his court in Hofuf. He was later given the Gill Memorial Award for this work by the Royal Geographical Society. In 1936 he was awarded the

Patron's Medal The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...

of the society for his explorations and surveys of the

Blue Nile The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to ...

and Lake Tana.

Family

His sister Evelyn Cheesman was a noted entomologist and traveller. Another sister was Edith Cheesman, a notable artist who exhibited and published a series of sketches and paintings of Iraq.

Publications

* 'Report on a collection of mammals made by Col. J.E.B. Hotson in Shiraz, Persia', ''Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society'', vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 573–581. * ''Unknown Arabia'', R. E. Cheesman. London, Macmillan & Co., 1926

References

* ''Travellers in Arabia'', Eid Al Yahya, Stacey International (2006). (9780955219313) * ''In Unknown Arabia'', R. E. Cheesman Macmillan & Co. (1926)

External links

Robert Cheeseman: An Arabian Explorer
1878 births 1962 deaths English explorers English travel writers Explorers of Asia Explorers of Arabia {{UK-explorer-stub