Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley

Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley (19 January 1855 – 22 June 1935), also known as Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq, was an Irish peer and a prominent convert to Islam, who was also one of the leading members of the Woking Muslim Mission alongside Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. He also presided over the British Muslim Society for some time.[1]

The Lord Headley
Born
Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn

(1855-01-19)19 January 1855
London, England
Died22 June 1935(1935-06-22) (aged 80)
Codford, Wiltshire, England
OccupationMuslim scholar

Biography
Lord Headley with Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn was born in London and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge University.[2][3] He then entered Middle Temple, before commencing studies at King's College London. He subsequently became a civil engineer by profession, a builder of roads in India, and an authority on the protection of intertidal zones.

He was an enthusiastic practitioner of boxing as well as other arts of self-defence, and in 1890 co-authored, with C. Phillipps-Wolley, the classic Broad-sword and Singlestick (1890).[4] He was solo author of Boxing (1889) in the same "All-England Series" (introduced by the boxer Bat Mullins) which was reprinted in 2006.[5] In 1899 he married Teresa Johnson, daughter of William H. Johnson, former Wazir-wazirat (governor) of Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir), India.[6] She died in 1919.

Headley converted to Islam on 16 November 1913 and adopted the Muslim name of Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq. In 1914 he established the British Muslim Society. He was the author of several books on Islam, including A Western Awakening to Islam (1914) and Three Great Prophets of the World.[7] He was a widely travelled man and twice made the Hajj.

He inherited his peerage from his cousin in 1913. In 1921 he married the Australian author Barbara Baynton.[8] He became bankrupt in 1922.[9] He was offered the throne of Albania in 1925, along with $500,000 and $50,000 per year[10] but refused it, at which point Lady Headley returned to Melbourne, where she died in 1929.[8] From 1929 Headley owned and lived at Ashton Gifford House near the village of Codford in Wiltshire. His widow Lady Catherine Headley continued to live at the property until 1940.[11] He is buried in the Muslim section of Brookwood Cemetery.

Allanson-Winn's grave in Brookwood Cemetery

Armenian Genocide stance

Baron Headley alleged that the Armenian Genocide was a case of both sides, Turks and Armenians, killing each other and that the Turks were more numerous as victims than the Armenians.[12]

See also


References
  1. http://www.wokingmuslim.org/pers/
  2. "Winn, Rowland George Allanson (WN874RG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. The New International Yearbook, 1936
  4. R. G. Allanson-Winn & C. Phillipps-Wolley, Broad-sword and Single-stick: with chapters on quarter-staff, bayonet, cudgel, shillalah, walking-stick, umbrellba, and other weapons of self-defence (All-England Series.) London: George Bell, 1890.
  5. https://www.amazon.com/Boxing-Prefatory-Note-Bat-Mullins/dp/054397023X for the reprinted version of the book
  6. The Age (Melbourne), 14 Feb. 1921:5 "About People", accessed through Trove, 28 Apr. 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201698943
  7. Headley's book: A Western Awakening to Islam at wokingmuslim.org
  8. Australian Dictionary of Biography
  9. Baynton, Barbara Jane (1857 - 1929) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online at www.adb.online.anu.edu.au
  10. Time magazine, "London's Mosque" 28 June 1937
  11. Dod's Peerage, 1942
  12. The Bishop of London and Muslims
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Charles Allanson-Winn		 Baron Headley
1913–1935		 Succeeded by
Rowland Allanson-Winn

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