Edward Firth Henderson

The American Educational Trust´s founding chairman was Edward Firth Henderson, a British Army Officer during World War II who served in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Subsequently he was employed as an Arabist negotiator and adviser by the Anglo-Iranian oil company in the present day United Arab Emirates and Oman, before joining the British diplomatic service.

He served as resident political officer in Abu Dhabi, as British consul in Jerusalem, and was the first British ambassador to the State of Qatar. After his retirement from British government service he served in 1980 and 1981 as executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) in London.

Ambassador Henderson left AET in June 1983 to accept a position in the national archives of the United Arab Emirates. While there he published a book of memoirs focused on the formative years of the present Arab states of the Gulf: This Strange, Eventful History, available from the AET Book Club. He died in April, 1995.