‘Glubb Pasha,’ Builder of Arab Legion in Jordan, Dies at 88

John Glubb, who developed Jordan’s Arab Legion into one of the strongest armies in the Middle East and became renowned as a latter-day Lawrence of Arabia, died Monday in his sleep.

He was 88 and died at his home in Mayfield in Sussex, where he had lived since Jordan’s King Hussein dismissed him as head of the kingdom’s army in 1956.

Under his command, the men of the Arab Legion were known as “Glubb’s Girls,” so called because of the length of their hair and flowing robes. They were a few thousand finely trained and disciplined Bedouin tribesmen who followed “Glubb Pasha,” as he was to be known, into battle for 26 years.

And they were the same troops who conquered the West Bank of the Jordan River and East Jerusalem in the fighting against Israel that followed the end of the British mandate over Palestine in 1948.

In Bedouin Headdress

Often seen in a red Bedouin headdress, the 5-foot 6-inch Glubb would ride on camel or horseback with his troops. He identified with the Arab way of life, endearing himself to his men while helping to maintain a British presence in the Middle East.

Although he was brushed aside when it became politically impossible for a British officer to command an Arab army, he remained a firm supporter of the Arab cause.

Glubb, who was wounded three times while with the British in France in World War I--one wound destroying much of his chin--volunteered in 1919 to go to Iraq, which Britain administered after the overthrow of its Ottoman Turkish rulers.

In 1926, Glubb left the British army to serve the Iraqi government. In 1930, he returned to active duty in Trans-Jordan, then under British mandate, as a major in the Arab Legion, which had been formed by another British officer. He took command of the legion in 1939, eventually leaving the British army to serve under contract to Jordan.

Son of a Soldier

The son of a soldier who attended the Royal Military Academy in England, Glubb lived with the Bedouins, learning their language and culture. His approach, unusual for an Englishman, was the same followed years earlier by T.E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia, the British officer who helped unite the Bedouin tribes against their Ottoman rulers during World War I.

Emir Abdullah of Trans-Jordan--Hussein’s grandfather, who would later be King Abdullah of Jordan--awarded Glubb the honorary military title of pasha. In 1939, Glubb was made commander of the Arab Legion, which eventually evolved into the Jordanian army.

When the independent kingdom of Jordan was created at the end of the Palestine mandate, Glubb stayed on to head the Jordanian army. His mentor, Abdullah, was assassinated in 1951, and in 1956 Hussein dismissed Glubb for trying to prevent a confrontation with Israel during the Suez crisis.

He returned to England, withdrew from public life and devoted much of his time to writing and lecturing on Jordan and the Palestinians. Among his books were “The Story of the Arab Legion” and his memoirs, “A Soldier With the Arabs.”