Bertram Sidney Thomas was born near Bristol and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served in Belguim and Iraq in the First World War and subsequently as an Assistant Political Officer in Iraq from 1918 to 1922, and Assistant British Representative in Jordan from 1922 to 1924. He was appointed as Finance Minister and Wazir to Taimur bin Feisal, the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, a post he held from 1925 to 1932. In this capacity, he undertook a number of expeditions into the desert, and became the first European to cross the Rub' al Khali in 1930-1931, a journey he recounted in _Arabia Felix_ (1932), in which he described this desert's animals, inhabitants, and culture. During World War II, Thomas headed the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies in Jerusalem, where British Army officers were taught Arabic language and culture. He returned to England and died in the house in which he was born, in 1950.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.