Contents lists
Updated June 2012
T. E. Lawrence to A. W. Lawrence
Karachi
5.V.27
I wonder if they have reached England by now: or if they have stopped (it would be wise, climatically) for a few weeks in the Rhône valley on their way up from Marseilles. And I wonder in what mind they will reach England, and where they will settle to live. It struck me, thinking it over, that some such place as Dumfries or Edinburgh might please them. London does not care for the things they care about, and the solidity of parts of Scotland might appeal to Bob. Mother, herself, was always Scotch in inclination. You might suggest it to them, as a chance idea of mine. I am sure that neither London, nor any of the usually-considered-habitable parts of England, will suit.
Possibly Mother will be visiting Dr. James, my very adept dentist. If so, please ask her to commend me to him, with the message that his most artificial masterpiece, my mouth, still stands superbly. It cracks nuts. Yes, I'd like to see your book: and can send back the copy, after reading, if that would be convenience to you. If it stays here, it may lose itself. I'm not responsible for my books: they are at a premium, in camp. No, I have no interest (financial) in the sale of the Seven Pillars pictures: and no control over the disposal of the profits of Revolt.
Hogarth is one of the three step-parents of Revolt. They say it has sold almost riotously. So much the better. I like G.B.S. He is still in the saddle, and able to fight, after 20 years of glory. Few victors survive so long. Mrs. S. is also good. She refuses to be his shadow. Wives of great men have a hard life.
Alonso de Contreras? Never heard of him. His name makes me wish for a copy of Don Quixote!
Yours
T.E.S.
| Source: | HL 365-6 |
| Checked: | jw/ |
| Last revised: | 12 February 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