Earl Peel

Summary

William Robert Wellesley, Earl Peel, appointed Chairman of the Palestine Royal Commission by Royal Warrant of 7 August 1936 (Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, PDF p.6 / printed p.vi).

The Warrant styles him “Our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor William Robert Wellesley, Earl Peel, Knight Grand Commander of Our Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Knight Grand Cross of Our Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (PDF p.6 / printed p.vi, reassembled from the word-per-line copy).
He is named first among the six Commissioners and as Chairman, with Sir Horace George Montagu Rumbold as Vice-Chairman (PDF p.6 / printed p.vi).
As Chairman he replied to the High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope’s welcome at the opening session at Government House on 12 November 1936, appealing to the Arab Higher Committee to end its boycott and stating that a Royal Commission is an entirely independent body with no responsibility for the policy of His Majesty’s Government in the present or in the past (PDF p.10 / printed p.x, reassembled).
His opening speech set out the Commission’s interpretation of its Terms of Reference: the words “underlying causes” exclude enquiry into the detailed course of the disturbances, and the Terms are to be interpreted in a broad and comprehensive manner (PDF p.11 / printed p.xi, reassembled).