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Journal
of the T. E. Lawrence Society Vol. XI, No. 1, Autumn 2001 Edited by Philip Kerrigan H. St. J. B. Philby, 'T. E. Lawrence and his Critics' (7-35)
H. St. J. B. Philby, 1917 Inscribed
on St John Philby's tombstone in Beirut are the words, 'Greatest of
Arabian explorers'. Elizabeth Monroe, Philby's biographer,
has no doubt that the inscription is fully justified. 'None,' she said,
'. . . had covered half as much as he of the huge surface of Arabia.
None had drawn attention to so many of its antiquities; none had
equalled his spread of maps.' It
was not until July 1919 that Philby and Lawrence met, by chance, in Crete.
In Chapter 5 of his autobiography, reprinted here, Philby relates how he spent several weeks in Trans-Jordan,
taking over from Lawrence the post of Chief British Representative. Monroe wrote, 'Philby is often bracketed with Lawrence because they both worked in the Arab world, but they were opposites in their handling of its arbiters. Where Lawrence rightly judged the tempo that suited the men of power, and was able to cajole them into doing as he advised, Philby, hectoring, intemperate and opinionated, provoked their wrath and lost his case.' Arnold J. Toynbee. 'Colonel T. E. Lawrence' (36-55) In
his book Acquaintances, Arnold Toynbee gave a sketch of twenty-four
friends and acquaintances. One
of his subjects is Lawrence. During the First World
War, Toynbee was employed in the political intelligence department of the
Foreign Office. He first met Lawrence at the Paris Peace
Conference in 1919 and was able to observe,
at close quarters, the effect Lawrence had on that distinguished
assembly. John Rothenstein, 'Oxford' (56-64) In this excerpt from his autobiography, John Rothenstein recalls his first meeting with Lawrence. At the time his father, Sir William Rothenstein, was painting a portrait of Lawrence portrait in Arab dress, at his studio in London. The son was about to attend Oxford University and Lawrence, a Fellow of All Souls, invited him to his rooms. Lawrence was interested to hear Rothenstein's views on contemporary artists and writers, and the friendship continued. Sir John Rothenstein later became director of the Tate Gallery in London. Keith Beardow, 'Out of the Desert' (65-82)
RAF 200 Seaplane Tender, Plymouth
T. E. Shaw, Admiral Sir Eric Fullerton, Hubert Scott-Paine When
Lawrence managed to persuade the authorities to allow him to re-join the
RAF in 1925, he seemed content provided that he was not promoted and the work had
a mechanical content. After his return from India he was posted to RAF
Cattewater, Plymouth, which proved, from Lawrence's viewpoint, a happy
choice. He already knew the Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Sydney
Smith, and the Station was about to become involved in the Schneider
Trophy Race and the development of seaplane tenders. Lawrence's
contribution is set out in Keith Beardow's article. taken from his book
Sailors in the RAF. The author served as an engineer in the Marine
Branch of the RAF from 1955 to 1965. Previous: Contents of Vol. X, No. 2 Next: Contents of Vol. XI, No. 2 You can buy issues of the Journal
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