Sir Alec Seath Kirkbride KCMG OBE MC (1897–1978) was a British diplomat, a proconsul, who served in Jordan and Palestine between 1920 and 1951.
Kirkbride was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on 19 August 1897 to British parents and grew up in Egypt.
In 1920, after the Battle of Maysalun and the fall of Faisal's government of Syria left Transjordan with no central authority, he was dispatched by the British government to Transjordan to help maintain order during this interregnum.
"With a fine sense of history" he established the ephemeral but whimsically named "National Government of Moab" in Kerak with himself as president, which lasted until Abdullah took control of the country.
(His younger brother Alan similarly formed the "Ammonite Government" in Amman.)