Contents lists
Updated June 2012
T. E. Lawrence to his family
Arab Bureau
Savoy Hotel
Cairo
31.1.17
Am back in Cairo, though only for a few days. Left Yenbo about a fortnight ago, for Um Lejj, by sea. Landed at Urn Lejj and came up by land to Wejh, which we took without fighting. A landing party from the ships had practically done the work the day before. I snatched a week's leave, to come up here and buy some things, before going off to Sherif Feisul again. As I have not had any letters lately (due to my moving about, and the difficulty of posts in the Red Sea) I cannot answer any particular questions. Things in Arabia are very pleasant, though the job I have is rather a responsible one, and sometimes it is a little heavy to see which way one ought to act. I am getting rather old with it all, I think! However it is very nice to be out of the office, with some field work in hand, and the position I have is such a queer one- I do not suppose that any Englishman before ever had such a place. All of which is rather tantalising reading to you, because I cannot enter into details. I act as a sort of adviser to Sherif Feisul, and as we are on the best of terms, the job is a wide and pleasant one. I live with him, in his tent, so our food and things (if you will continue to be keen on such rubbish!) is as good as the Hejaz can afford. Personally I am more and more convinced that it doesn't matter a straw what you eat or drink, so long as you do not do either oftener than you feel inclined. It has been very cold down there lately: the thermometer one morning was down to 500 which struck us as rather serious!
The war in Arabia is going on very well: the Arabs are very keen and patriotic, and the Turks are beginning to get really frightened. I hope to write a better letter tomorrow: this is only a scrawl to catchthe mail.
N.
| Source: | HL 333-4 |
| Checked: | jw/ |
| Last revised: | 9 January 2006 |
T. E. Lawrence chronology
1888 16 August: born at Tremadoc, Wales
1896-1907: City of Oxford High School for Boys
1907-9: Jesus College, Oxford, B.A., 1st Class Hons, 1909
1910-14: Magdalen College, Oxford (Senior Demy), while working at the British Museum's excavations at Carchemish
1915-16: Military Intelligence Dept, Cairo
1916-18: Liaison Officer with the Arab Revolt
1919: Attended the Paris Peace Conference
1919-22: wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1921-2: Adviser on Arab Affairs to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office
1922 August: Enlisted in the Ranks of the RAF
1923 January: discharged from the RAF
1923 March: enlisted in the Tank Corps
1923: translated a French novel, The Forest Giant
1924-6: prepared the subscribers' abridgement of Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1927-8: stationed at Karachi, then Miranshah
1927 March: Revolt in the Desert, an abridgement of Seven Pillars, published
1928: completed The Mint, began translating Homer's Odyssey
1929-33: stationed at Plymouth
1931: started working on RAF boats
1932: his translation of the Odyssey published
1933-5: attached to MAEE, Felixstowe
1935 February: retired from the RAF
1935 19 May: died from injuries received in a motor-cycle crash on 13 May
1935 21 May: buried at Moreton, Dorset