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T. E. Lawrence to Ernest Thurtle
14 Barton Street
Westminster
London, S.W.1
9.2.29
Dear Mr. Thurtle
I doubt whether you properly observed the street's name or the number of the house, the other night. Will you hand it on, please, to whoever will return my books - and please remind them to be uncommonly discreet over The Mint, the R.A.F. book; for I have been told by the Powers that my visit to the House was not approved: told very distinctly, I'm afraid.
It was very pleasant for me that you were so reasonable, that night. You will realise that I can't spend an hour with everybody, explaining that there is no mystery: and I'm delighted to have had the chance, by lending you those two books, to give myself away to you completely. If Mr. Maxton will read some of them, he'll never be nervous about me, either, again.
Yours sincerely
T E Shaw
| Source: | DG 641 |
| Checked: | dn/ |
| Last revised: | 20 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