Contents lists
Updated June 2012
T. E. Lawrence to Clare Sydney Smith
29.xii.30.
I have not written, all my days having been shared between Homer and the Biscuit. We have, I feel sure, found what was wrong with the engine - as usual the electrical works. Bill the pup had one bad day, during which his nose swelled to about 2 inches across. Committee of Mr. Worthington, S/M Furner and myself sat on him, and as a decision called in the vet. Who pronounced it possibly a feather or thorn in the nostril, causing inflammation. He syringed the poor little beast up the nostrils with salt and water. Bill sneezed for about an hour, and is as well as ever. Leo is quite happy. Mr. Worthington and S/Lr. Jones have had them, so he has not had many biscuits.
Many thanks for the 'thing.' Either my figure is degenerating, the Wing-Commander's much libelled - or you measured it off Squeak. Anyway it fits!
The Biscuit's cushions are about 2 feet long and 19 inches broad, each, and 3½ inches thick. Two of them. The back is 3 feet 8 inches wide and 16 inches high. The small cushion you used as a back rest is 16 inches each way. All these are exact sizes: I suppose there should be an inch of stuff for turning in, at each joint. If it comes to a lot, you must let me pay my share. I feel confident the boat will be serviceable to-morrow. We have had the engine out, and worked very hard on her.
T.E.S.
| Source: | GR 129-30 |
| Checked: | jw/ |
| Last revised: | 1 July 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