DORSET: T.E.LAWRENCE, THOMAS HARDY, AND MISCELLANEOUS POSTINGS

IS THIS WHERE 'TESS' WAS HANGED?

2010-10-02T20:11:00.001+01:00

This poor quality illustration was derived from a glazed 1838 coloured print captioned as:

GAOL, WINCHESTER'.

T. E.LAWRENCE AT THE DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM

2010-09-02T12:01:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday, 19th October 2010, at 7.30 p.m., there will be a lecture at the Museum by Neil Faulkner of the Great Arab Revolt Project - LAWRENCE OF ARABIA: GENIUS OR CHARLATAN. The debate about T.E.Lawrence has raged for 75 years since his death in 1935. The speaker will discuss Lawrence and his use of modern guerilla warfare. Tickets: £5.

The Museum's new dynamic Director has realised what a Dorset celebrity Lawrence was - and to a certain extent still is - and plans to give Lawrence a physical visual presence within the Museum that he has not had so far. When the Dorset Writers' Gallery was first mooted some years ago, I was invited onto the advisory panel, and naturally endeavoured to have Lawrence represented - but to no avail, though it seems this could well now change. There is however in the Museum's Library quite a collection of accumulated and donated material chronicling more or less the whole of Lawrence's life from birth to death.

IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND . . . . . . .

2010-08-16T14:13:00.000+01:00

At sometime in the 2-3 years following WW2 I remember listening to a radio play about a sighted man who wanders into a village of all blind people. He does not always find his sight of great advantage, as for instance in the dark they all know their way around whereas he just stumbles about. He also possibly upsets them by trying to take advantage of his sight. Inevitably he falls for a local girl, but before they will let him marry her he has to let them blind him.
Whether this was written as a play, or an adaptation of a story I know not. Neither its title nor its author. Can anyone please enlighten me?

T.E.L's 75th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION AT MORETON, 2010

2010-05-23T16:18:00.168+01:00

Updated: 2nd October 2010, 7.20 p.m.

On Saturday, 22nd May 2010, at Moreton Dorset, there was a 75th anniversary Commemoration of the death of T. E. Lawrence, jointly with the 25th anniversary of the formation of the T.E.Lawrence Society.
The day started with a buffet lunch for Society members at the Frampton Arms, next to Moreton railway station. The gathering included two ladies who had come all the way from Italy. Everyone then motored the couple of miles or so to St. Nicholas' Church, Moreton, for the 'Service of Thanksgiving to Celebrate the Life of Thomas Edward Lawrence 1888-1935', which began at 2 p.m. On arrival, the church was found to be already rather full with other Society members, etc.
The service was conducted by the Rev. Jacquie Birdseye, accompanied by the Moreton Benefice Choir.

The portrait of Lawrence is one of those by Augustus John. Ian Heritage is the current Secretary of the Society. The two poems chosen to be read from Minorities were 'Arabia' by Walter de la Mare, and "When I Set Out For Lyonesse" by Thomas Hardy.

The Rev. Birdseye and congregation then walked down to the cemetery and Lawrence's grave, passing on the way about six assorted Brough motorcycles on display with their proud owners on the village green:

At the graveside, after being introduced by the Society's Chairman,

I gave my following Tribute:

"Good afternoon everyone. I was the Society's second Chairman. Some of what I am to say may overlap or be an augmentation of what was said earlier at the Service.

"We have passed from the place of religious observance of remembrance to this focal spot of T.E.Lawrence's final resting place. We are a smaller, more restrained gathering than that which descended on this consecrated plot 75 years ago yesterday. A gathering which then included an invited selection of the great and the good from Who's Who, as well as many onlookers - the latter including one of the young lads involved in the fatal accident, as one of the many photographs taken at the time show.

"Lawrence was born in North Wales, in a house named Gorphwysfa, which means 'place of rest'. Less than 47 years later, he prematurely found another Gorphwysfa here in rural Dorset. Though some may question that, for this spot has since become a place of pilgrimage, both by the knowledgeable and the just curious. The former come perhaps to ponder on the "What if" he had not died, with still potentially many years of life and possible public service ahead of him. The merely curious on the other hand may be disappointed to find that this headstone is not very enlightening; and they may even be forgiven for wondering whether they are looking at the correct grave.

"For those of a sentimental nature, they can draw some comfort from knowing that Lawerence does not lie here alone - albeit with two of his brothers lying in some foreign fields that will be for ever England; his parents together in an Oxford cemetery; and some ancestors in a small graveyard in the centre of Ireland. However, his distant kinsfolk, the Framptons, have lived across the road in 'Moreton House' for hundreds of years; and it was one of them who donated this piece of ground to be used as a cemetery. Even more closely, some of his contemporary Frampton relatives also lie here only a matter of a few yards away over to the [speaker's] right.

"Also lying close by are Pat and Joyce Knowles, over to the [speaker's] left, who lived in the cottage opposite Lawrence's own Clouds Hill, and who became his very close friends.

"Also permanently represented here is Lawrence's close army friend, the late Arthur Russell. The two first met when they served together in the Tank Regiment at Bovington in the early 1920s. Russell was to be rewarded for his friendship by being one of the pall-bearers at Lawrence's funeral.

"And it was Russell who about 20 years ago, donated this bench behind me. The 'Patroclus' mentioned on the seat's back-rest refers to Greek mythology, in which Patroclus was the constant companion of Achilles. When another of Lawrence's friends, the poet Siegfried Sassoon so named them, one can only conjecture as to whether Sassoon had anything in mind as to what could have been Lawrence's 'Achilles heel'!

"As Sir Edmund Gosse said in 1928, a couple of months after the death of Thomas Hardy: 'This is not the moment for attempting to make a final pronouncement about the character of Hardy's works in detail. They will occupy a hundred pens, and will be subjected to close analysis by every variety of commentatot.' This can be said to have been appropriately true in the case of Lawrence's character.

"Over the years interest in, and appraisal of Lawrence has ebbed and flowed, waxed and waned. The expression 'many faceted' is a possibly over-used one generally used in describing Lawrence. Though it is an expression that cannot be bettered, and one justly deserved in this instance.

"I will not go through the long list of his achievements and interests, which most of us are probably knowledgeable of anyway - this through the many biographies and critiques that have been written about him right up to the present day.

"He himself once foretold that his bones would be rattled after his death, but it may be doubted whether even he considered this would be continuing 75 years later. There have been upteen biographies and esoteric publications; articles; plays; an epic film; TV documentaries; and now numerous websites devoted to him. All this commentary has ranged from the adulatory to the vitriolic. Even now there is not let-up in what has been described as a Lawrence industry.

"We must not of course overlook Lawrence's own legacy of his three autobiographies. There was, of course, his monumental Seven Pillars of Wisdom, detailing his close involvement in the 'Arab Revolt' of World War One. Then came the posthumous publication of The Mint, about his early time in the Royal Air Force. And thirdly, the thousand or so seemingly inexhaustable surviving canon of correspondence he wrote up to the day of his fatal accident.

"Back in May 1985 there was considered to still be sufficient interest in Lawrence for there to be an organised 50th anniversary remembrance, based here in Dorset. A memorial tree was ceremonially planted near the crash site, up from Bovington Camp. The honours being undertaken by a soldier who had been with Lawrence in the Desert Campaign.

"For those of us who were here at Moreton at another event, you will recall the large interested crowd which attended on that sunny Sunday afternoon. As well as the Commemorative Service in the church, there was an associated 'T.E.Lawrence Exhibition', with the star attraction being undoubtedly the powerful Brough motorcycle on which Lawrence had his final accident. It was a monster machine, wondrous to behold, For myself at least, an awe-inspiring moment.

"Lawrence confessed to not deliberately seeking publicity. And whilst in the army and airforce was somewhat punctilious in doing his duty, and generally keeping a low profile - though not backward in contacting the highest echelons of authority to get petty service regulations changed. One biographer was thus persuaded to entitle his biography of Lawrence - Backing into the Limelight. Though with Lawrence roaring around barrack-squares, and the length and breadth of the countryside on his powerful, noisy motorcycles, this title could be considered something of an understatement, or mis-statement.

"To return to the point I was starting to make. It was at the time of that 50th commemorative event in 1985 - and to misuse another mythical source - there rose like a phoenix out of the flames of renaissance euphoria the inspiration for the forming of a T.E.Lawrence Society. Today is thus a happy celebration of the 25th anniversary of that Society's formation, right here in Dorset.

"It was the brainchild of a young lady teacher at Wareham - Ingrid Keith - whom it had been hoped could have been here with us this afternoon.

"I said happy celebration, because the Society was formed at an auspicious time. Not only because of all the positive publicity being generated at the time, but there was already sufficient keen local interest and support to get such a viable Society up and running.

"In those early heady days there were still people alive who knew or had met Lawrence, and many of these were subsequently interviewed for their valuable reminiscences. One such was Arthur Russell, who I mentioned earlier. I well remember the visit my wife and I made to Coventry to meet him, and being regaled not only with a nice lunch, but for three hours or more with stories about his time with Lawrence. He later came down to Dorset to attend some Society and other events.

"Then there was the local elderly gentleman member of the Society, who in the early 1920s had been working in the same Westminster building in which Lawrence had spartan attic accommodation, and was busy writing his Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

"Alas, these and others have now departed. That is with the notable exception of an active centenarian lady not far from here in Dorset, who acted in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles back in 1924, which Lawrence attended with his friends Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hardy.

"There were happily also in 1985 several building and locations in Dorset, and around the country, with Lawrence associations, which could still be visited and photographed. Then in 1989 an intrepid band of Society members made an unforgettable visit to Jordan, the scene of some of Lawrence of Arabia's finest achievements.

"And later in that year my wife and I stayed for a memorable week at the cottage in north-east Scotland, where Lawrence spent a holiday with friends in 1930.

"Again, alas, many of these locations have since disappeared, or changed out of recognition. I instance the R.A.F. Mountbatten complex in Devon, where Lawrence served following his return from India in 1929; the Scott-Paine powerboat works in Hythe, Hampshire, where he helped design and test R.A.F. air-sea rescue craft; the R.A.F. marine craft workshops in Bridlington, Yorkshire, from where he retired in 1935; and the Bovington village post-office and garage, visited by Lawrence on the day of his fatal accident.

"In the 25 years since its formation the T.E.Lawrence Society has grown into a truly international one, and doubtless exceeding the expectations of its founders and early members. On a more practical note, this pathway was part-financed by the Society.

"Thank you."

The Society's floral tribute was then laid on the grave by member Sylvia Clarke:

After which group photographs were taken, and possibly a video:

I was then asked by some members to show them the various graves I had mentioned. Here I am with Pieter Shipster (on the left) the T.E.Lawrence Society Vice-Chairman:

The above five photographs were taken by Alan Hammond, to whom acknowledgements are given.

Should anyone else who happened to be at Moreton for this event, and took photographs which they would not mind me placing in this blog, I would be greatly appreciative and obliged if they could please send them as email attachments to ronald950@btinternet.com. Photos published will carry the sender's name, unless they wish otherwise.

AN 'UNREQUITED LOVE' POEM

2010-05-11T09:39:00.004+01:00

One day in the late 1960s or early 1970s I picked up from off a pavement in Weymouth a piece of paper with writing on it. With feint lines it looked to have come from a small writing pad. It contained the following untitled, unsigned poignant poem, obviously written by a young hand, in extremely neat writing. It was found along a route travelled by pedestrian teenage students from a nearby Technical College. Whether it was written by a boy or girl is difficult to say, though I am inclined to the latter. Was it dropped by the writer or recipient? It was a seemingly inadvertent action for the paper had just one fold, and was not screwed up as it might have been if being thrown away. What happened to either of them?
Although not a masterpiece, though with some clever rhyming, it nevertheless touched me such that I could not in turn dispose of it. After all this time I am taking the liberty of publishing the poem in case by chance the writer recognises it, and may wish to have it returned.

I told this heart of mine
Our love could never be;
And then I hear your voice,
And something stirs inside of me.
Somehow I cant dismiss
The memory of your kiss.
Yes, my heart has a mind of its own,
No matter what I do.
No matter what I say,
No matter how I try,
I just cant turn the other way.
When I'm with someone new,
I always think of you.
Yes my heart has a mind of its own.
Your not in love with me,
So why cant I forget
I'm just your used to be.
Its wrong, and yet
I know forgetting you
Would be a hopeless thing,
For I'm a puppet
and I just cant seem to break the string.
I say I'll let you go,
And then my heart say's "No".
Yes my heart has a mind of it's own.

FAREWELL 'ELSA'. R.I.P.

2010-04-16T15:06:00.001+01:00

Visitors to Moreton cemetery over the past several years may well have met the friendly resident tortoiseshell cat, who was to be named 'Elsa'. She was semi-feral, and said to be aged 16 at her recent death. From personal experience she seemed to have taken on the mantle of the Lawrence grave's custodian, for she was inclined to instinctively lead one directly to it. Whilst one was then contemplating the grave, Elsa might perch herself on the nearby Arthur Russell's 'PATROCLUS' bench. There are a couple of photographs of her in the latest Winter 2010 T.E.LAWENCE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER.

MORETON CEMETERY LYCH-GATE

2010-04-14T08:49:00.000+01:00

DORSET LIFE, a monthly Dorset county magazine, in its April 2010 edition contained a short article headed "Lych-gate roof restoration call". After a series of lead thefts, Moreton parochial church council decided it wanted to replace the lead on the cemetery's lych-gate roof with slate. But as the structure is a 200-year-old listed building it needs planning permission from Purbeck District Council. The architects have been in negotiations with English Heritage for "quite a long time", but are now hopeful permission will be obtained for this change of material.

IMAGES OF T.E.LAWRENCE'S PARENTS

2010-02-02T10:22:00.006Z

Considering that photography was invented c.1840, there are very few known photographs of T.E.Lawrence's parents: (Sir) Thomas Robert Tighe Chapman (1846-1919) and Sarah Lawrence (nee Junner, 1861-1959). Thomas Chapman was something of a photographer, and more or less taught his son Thomas Edward Lawrence all he knew.
But at the National Portrait Gallery's "T.E.Lawrence Exhibition" in December 1988, visitors were introduced to a number of images of the pair. There was just the one photographic image of Thomas senior, taken it is believed c.1864 whilst he was attending Eton College. In private hands it is seemingly still the only one so far known, and unfortunately was not reproduced in the Exhibition Catalogue. It had, however, apparently been already first published in Plymouth's Evening Herald of 17th August 1988, and then again in Ireland on Sunday of 14th April 2002. This latter publication also contained photographs of elderly Sarah Lawrence and Edith Chapman (Thomas Chapman's wife). Although Thomas Chapman's photograph is to a certain extent now in the public domain, for copyright reasons it is not possible to publish here.
With Sarah Lawrence, we are luckier. At the above Exhibition, and in the Catalogue, there was a photograph from the Bodleian Library of her with her four elder sons (including TEL aged 5 years) standing in the doorway of Langley Lodge, Hampshire. Then there was a later head-and-shoulders one of Sarah c.1910 from a private collection. The colour portrait of her dated c.1936 from the artist's family, also appeared in black and white in the Ireland on Sunday. The Exhibition and Catalogue finally contained a black and white photograph of Sarah c.1940 (in private hands), when she would be aged about 80.
Finally, there is another oft-published one of her in old age, taken with her eldest son Robert, at the doorway of their house in Swanage, Dorset, taken not long after their return from China in 1935 following TEL's tragic death.
The writer would be interested in learning of any other images of TEL's parents.

T. E. LAWRENCE COMMEMORATION 2010

2010-01-13T10:49:00.008Z

At 2 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday, 22nd May 2010, there will be a Commemoration Service in memory of T. E. Lawrence at Moreton church, Dorset. It will have been 75 years since Lawrence's tragic death, and the 25th anniversary of the formation of the T.E.Lawrence Society. The Service will include "elements from the original order of service."
Following this Service, the T.E.Lawrence Society will pay a floral tribute at Lawrence's graveside in the nearby Moreton cemetery, and when I have been invited to give an appropriate tribute.
The photograph below was taken on a similar graveside occasion in 1988.

(Acknowledgements for photograph to Bob Richardson, Wareham)

FURTHER MEMORIES OF A T.E.LAWRENCE SOCIETY PAST-CHAIRMAN

2009-11-02T11:59:00.018Z

My four years' Chairmanship of the T.E.Lawrence Society 1986-1990 was a heady time. It had only been formed in 1985, in Dorset, by a Wareham school teacher - Ingrid Keith. Most of its founding members were naturally from Dorset, and events tended at first to be local. I was not a founding member, and not at the inaugural meeting when the Society was set-up. At that time though I was in the process of publishing my first book concerning Lawrence - T.E.Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) Visits Mr & Mrs Thomas Hardy. The photograph below was taken by my youngest daughter outside the entrance to Thomas Hardy's home Max Gate which was used on the book's back cover. Having become a member, I attended the second Society meeting at Bovington, when a Constitution was drafted. I also introduced my book.
On becoming Chairman in 1986, this Constitution immediately became the basis for the Committee to apply for charity status, which it eventually obtained.
In the meantime I had started to collect examples of those medals, etc. for which Lawrence was gazetted, and those of WW1 which he would also have been entitled to wear had he so chosen! On his own evidence he also jokingly suggested others he thought apt. With the exception of a Jordanian Order of Nahda which I had been unable to obtain, on the occasion c.1990 of the birthday of the first Chairman, Roland Hammersley, I wore them all when attending his informal birthday party at his home at Bovington. The photograph below was taken as I was about to set off.
Society meetings soon began to take place at Lawrence associated venues around the country. One such was on 15th August 1987 at Bridlington, at the Blue Lobster Restaurant immediately adjacent to the site of the RAF Marine Craft works and slipway. One of those attending was the then Society Secretary, George Williams, who kindly provided copies of the printed momento below. All those present signed each others' copies on the back, as can be seen below on my copy.

As part of the 1988 centenary celebration of Lawrence's birth, Dorset County Council organised a T.E.Lawrence Trail Cycle-Ride, to take place on 16th August. I was invited to participate, and it was decided that I would motor ahead to strategic Lawrence locations along the way, and explain their significance. Unfortunately not many cyclists participated, but it being a glorious sunny day the event was still enjoyable. The first photograph was taken outside the entrance to Clouds Hill, which unfortunately was not open at the time.

The second photograph was taken at the site of the garage at Bovington, from which he left for his final fatal journey back to Clouds Hill in May 1935. The garage pictured was not the 1935 one, and even this later one has now disappeared to make way for housing. Similarly missing in 1988 was the Post Office on the other side of the road which Lawrence had also just visited, having been demolished shortly beforehand, though the cyclists were shown photographs of both.

Quite a number of other important Lawrence locations which were still in existence in those early days luckily visited by Society members have since passed away, as have sadly some of those early members. Included is RAF Mount Batten at Plymouth, the Scott-Paine Boatyard at Hythe in Hampshire, and the nearby early Lawrence family home at Langley Lodge. It was fortunate that the Society was formed when it was, when so many Lawrence locations were still in existence, and photographically recorded for posterity.
Again, as part of the 1988 celebrations, the Society Committee approved the initiative of a member who wished to produce commemorative envelopes as below, and stickers bearing the same design.

The big event of 1989 was the Society tour of Jordan in the May. Among the places visited were Amman, Petra, Aqaba, and Jerash. There was even a trip out into the desert on the Jordan/Saudia Arabia border, in a temperature of 45 Celsius, to see the purported results of one of Lawrence's train demolitions. We had an excellent Jordanian tour guide, who proved to have very sharp eyes. One day whilst the coach was having some repair made, we were standing on what to we English looked the usual uninteresting stone and gravel road surface, but the guide began picking up small pieces of coloured Roman glass he had noticed. One highlight was a trip along the Hejaz railway. The photograph below was taken of me having a welcome drink at one of the water stops along the way. During this trip the group was asked who would like to come for a ride up on the footplate for a short while. One lady volunteered. When she later returned her face was a picture, being covered in black diesel smoke. Being diesel-driven almost 'did' for some members, for when going through a long tunnel the diesel fumes came through the open windows and almost asphyxiated us. The same lady later tried to ride a camel and promptly fell off, but thankfully without sustaining any injury beyond bruising.

As is known, Lawrence spent a holiday with a couple of friends in Scotland in September 1930. This was at the small fishing village of Collieston, a few miles north of Aberdeen. I learned that although the original primitive fisherman's cottage had been demolished, the bungalow built in its place in 1937 was a holiday-let. So in September 1989, at the same period as Lawrence, my wife and I spent a pleasant week there. Although there had been some inevitable changes to the village, we were still able to see and experience most of what Lawrence was to write about in Garnett letter 421 dated 18th September 1930 to F.D.Doubleday. I was also fortunate to be able to locate and visit the gentleman who as a young boy had delivered milk (or whatever) to the cottage at that time. Internet search engines throw up several illustrated sites of Collieston.

My four years as Society Chairman were very busy, but rewarding and enjoyable. It enabled me to meet several people who had met Lawrence, as well as to visit Lawrence sites that I might never have otherwise have done. There have also been unique experiences. There was the time when my wife and I undertook a reconnaissance visit to RAF Mount Batten, and whilst travelling around the Station with the commanding Squadron Leader in his be-flagged car to receive by association the salutes of all personnel. Then whilst at work, to have my supervisor come running to me to say that there was a person-to-person telephone call from New Zealand, who turned out to be a new member who just wanted to speak with the Society Chairman!

There were one or two episodes that were not the usual pleasurable ones. One in particular was when a meeeting was arranged at the public library in Bromley, Kent, to hear a speaker give an Arabic viewpoint on Lawrence. My wife and I drove up to London the day before, and parked the car in an underground car-park somewhere near Victoria Station. It had been raining, and whilst walking round to our 'hotel' in Eccleston Square, a car drove through a large puddle in the road and sprayed my poor wife. Then we found that the 'hotel' was really a town house that had been converted into hotel-type accommodation, without the now obligatory en suite facilities. For an evening meal we found a nearby Indian restaurant. Next morning I wished to go to a postcard and militaria fair then in the arches under Charing Cross Station, whilst my wife went round the shops. Arriving at the fair I did not feel well enough to go inside, and returned to the hotel. Whilst driving to Bromley in the afternoon I just managed to pull into a public house car park, where I was violently sick. We managed to reach Bromley without further incident, and found several Society members waiting in the library. When the appointed time came, the speaker had not arrived. This was when a member of the library staff came in to say that the speaker had phoned to say that he had gone by mistake to Bromley-by Bow in east London, but was now on his way to Bromley. So for the next hour I had to waffle on about Society and Lawrence matters, interrupted by an occasional quick trip to the 'loo'. The speaker eventually arrived, when the meeting proper passed without further incident.

Although I was proud and privileged to have been Chairman, after 'only' four years I felt that it was time to retire from that position, and make way for fresh blood and ideas. It is somewhat gratifying to note that succeeding Chairmen have elected to create and follow that now unwritten convention.

T.E.LAWRENCE AND JANET LAURIE

2009-10-12T18:54:00.006+01:00

It is well known that Lawrence is purported to have proposed marriage to Janet Laurie just before WW1, but she turned him down. Apparently she preferred his brother Will. All this was covered by Jeremy Wilson in his official biography of 1989: Lawrence of Arabia. Just after the war she married Captain Guthrie Hallsmith DSO, (see the Supplement to The London Gazette dated 4th February 1918, page 1600) and they subsequently had several children.
Between 1923 and 1935 they lived at Newquay, Cornwall. One of Janet's childen, Emma Smith, wrote and had published in 2008 her childhood experiences of that period - The Great Western Beach: A Memoir of a Cornish Childhood Between the Wars. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London. On pages 242-247 is a blow-by-blow account of a visit Lawrence made to see them c.1931, on his motorcycle, when his stated adverse conduct on that occasion is somewhat at variance with that generally accepted.
To know what supposedly transpired I would recommend readers to obtain a copy of the book. It contains several photographs of the married Janet, as well as many details of her pre-married life, including her award of The Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class for her nursing work during WW1 (see the Supplement to The London Gazette dated 6th August 1919, page 10050).

T.E.LAWRENCE'S 'PATROCLUS'

2009-03-02T15:51:00.003Z

Visitors to Moreton in Dorset, to see Lawrence's grave in the cemetery, they will notice the bench seat alongside. Unfortunately is now in a somewhat sad condition, being covered in green mould, but it is still possible to see what is carved into the back-rest: FROM A.RUSSELL PATROCLUS

Russell was of course the young Arthur Russell who had enlisted into the Tank Corps and been posted to Bovington in Dorset at the same time as Lawrence, in March 1923. As they were in the same barrack-room, and Russell not as 'rough' as the others, the two struck up a friendship that was to last until Lawrence's death in 1935. Lawrence used to take Russell around the countryside as a pillion passenger on his Brough motorcycle, including to the Dorset author Thomas Hardy's home at Max Gate, Dorchester.

The poet Siegfried Sassoon sometimes met Lawrence at Max Gate during the Bovington period, when Lawrence would often be accompanied by Russell. Sassoon thus dubbed Russell as 'Patroclus', who in Greek mythology was the constant companion of Achilles. This nick-name Russell was proud to bear until his own death in 1997, at the age of 93. Hence the inscription on the bench at Moreton.

Despite several enquiries I have not yet been able to determine the exact date of the placement of the bench. It was certainly after Sunday, 18th May 1986, as it is absent from photographs taken on that day, the occasion of the T.E.Lawrence Society's graveside commemoration; and it still looks to be absent in a photograph taken for the May 1988 commemoration. It had appeared, however, in a photograph taken late in 1988.

According to one of the churchwardens of Moreton church, at a meeting of its Parochial Church Council on 18th October 1985, it was reported that "Mr A. Russell a friend of T. E. Lawrence had donated a teak seat which he would like placed in the cemetery." There is apparently no record of when it was installed. But on 15th May 1987, when another seat was being offered, it was mentioned that the church already had two seats. It was presumed by my correspondent that these were donated by Mr & Mrs (Tom) Beaumont and Mr Russell. (Beaumont had been with Lawrence in Arabia during WW1, being mentioned in Seven Pillars of Wisdom.)

Russell was to be honoured by being one of the six pall-bearers at Lawrence's funeral.

On visiting Moreton cemetery in 2005, there was a friendly furry tortoiseshell cat that seemed to lead/escort one to the grave, and then sit on the bench to be made a fuss of. I naturally called it 'Russell'. When I visited again in March 2006, 'Russell' was continuing to use the bench as a resting-place, and courting its accustomed adoring attention. I later learned that this stray cat had been named 'Elsa' by the local lady who looked after her, and still seemed to escort visitors directly to Lawrence's grave. When I visited Moreton on yesterday's sunny afternoon, 1st March 2009, there was alas no sign of 'Elsa'.

T.E.LAWRENCE AND THE R.A.F. MOUNT BATTEN BADGE

2009-02-13T19:43:00.012Z

MEMORIES OF A T.E.LAWRENCE SOCIETY PAST-CHAIRMAN

2009-01-09T19:18:00.024Z

T.E.LAWRENCE'S IRISH ANCESTRY AND RELATIONSHIP TO SIR WALTER RALEIGH - AN UPDATE

2008-10-12T18:58:00.017+01:00

In 2000 I published the above 153-page paperback book, in a limited edition, all copies of which have since been sold. It was briefly mentioned in my blog post of Tuesday, January 8th, 2008. Copies may occasionally however be found on Internet selling sites. As there is no likelihood of any form of a reprint, this blog gives me an opportunity to publish further material that would have gone into a revised reprint.

At the end are many photographs of properties and locations mentioned in the book, which would not in any other circumstance have been published.

PREFACE

Pages 5-6. Add:
RAWLEY/RALEIGH A toponymic of English origin. The family was established in the late 16th century in co. Limerick, where Rawleystown, formally Ballinrawley. locates them. There is evidence to suggest that the de Rallye, alias de Rolly, who was decribed in 1307 as of Ang, co. Limerick, was their ancestor. Rawley has occasionally been used as an anglicized form of Rahilly (see 'More Irish Names')
FETHERSTON An English toponymic well known in counties Roscommon and Westmeath since the Cromwellian period. This name is also sometimes an abbreviated form of Fetherstonhaugh, another north of England toponymic.
CHAPMAN This English occupational name is fairly numerous in all provinces of Ireland, except Connaught, and there too it appears in co. Roscommon in 1629. Other 17th century references are in Westmeath, Wexford, Clare and Dublin. There are occasional references to le Chapman in Irish records as far back as the 13th century.
Sources: The Surnames of Ireland by Edward MacLyacht, and also his Irish Families: Their Names, Arms & Origins - see Bibliography.

THE PERCEIVED EARLY CHAPMAN FAMILY ANCESTRY.

Add:

Page 8. Lawrence wrote to Edward Eliot on 16th June 1927:
"Walter Raleigh, for whom I have a certain regard, gave it [land] to my father's first Irish ancestor. I have a feeling that it should be kept in the line."
Letter to Lawrence from John Buchan dated 13th July 1927 (probably in answer to Lawrence's to him on 20th June 1927):
"I cannot tell you how deeply interested I am in what you tell me about your family. I am delighted to think that you can claim far-away kin with Sir Walter Raleigh, who has always been an object of my affection ever since I won a prize for an essay on him at Oxford."
Lawrence wrote to John Buchan on 26th December 1928:
"How strangely like the dying verses of Montrose are to Raleigh's 'Blood shall be my body's balmer.' (I quote from memory, but I expect you know the poem)."

WERE THEY CHAPMANS?

Pages 22-25. Bere Ferrers church, Devon, and the Roger Champernowne memorial c.1449.

Pages 26-29. Modbury church, Devon, and memorial to Philip Champernowne -1684 and his daughter Margaret -1715.

Effigy of Sir John Champernowne 1457-1503.

Pages 29-32. Dartington old church, Devon, and Champernowne memorial of 1578. Does this include John and William Chapman of Kerry?

THE PLANTING OF MUNSTER IN THE 1580s

Page 41, line23, amend to read 'subsequently'.
Page 42. Add:
Lawrence wrote in a letter from Karachi to Edward Garnett, dated 1st August 1927, "The Smerwick massacre was more Grey than Raleigh. R. was picturesque, and a braggart. People ascribed to him more action and less sensibility than the truth. Did you ever read his poem?"
Page 43, ad end of first paragraph add:
This monument has carved on its reverse side in Irish script (exactly reproduceable here):

I scuimhne

oh un an oIr

samhain

1580

Page 51, add:
23rd May 1582 Paris - Charles Doyly to Secretary Walsingham: "I wrote 15 days since to Mr Champernon at Toulouse, advertising him of the money you sent him."
21st August 1589 - Captain Chapman's band shipped for the Low Countries in the ship 'Roger and Catherine' of Newcastle.
7th February 1600(?) - George Whitton to Dudley Carleton, Puddle Wharf. "Commend me to Mr Champernon."
(Source: Calendar of State Papers - Domestic. 1580-1625 Addendum.)

THE BARONY OF CORKAGUINY

Page 73, add:
6th September 1588 - Dominick Ryesse, the Suffrein of Dingle Cush reports that on Thursday afternoon in Blaskets Sound (3 miles west of Dingle), 2 ships and a frigate arrived.

LOCATIONS OF CHAPMAN GRANTS IN MUNSTER
county KERRY

Page 78, ACKRIE/ACKRY. Add: Acres can be easily viewed at close distance from Minard.

Page 79, BALLY McDONNELLS. Add: Whilst visiting here in 2000, the author was pleased to meet a helpful Mr Scanlon.

Pages 82-87 DINGLE town and harbour.

Page 88, line 18. Amend 'fir' to read 'for'.
BLASQUET/BLASKET ISLANDS

Page 89, FARREN EDYLLE. Add: Farren was originally spelt FEARRAN = Land.
Page 91, MENARDE. Line 19, amend to read 'storeys'. Add: The Grid ref. of the well of St John the Baptist is V553991, being with its simple Latin cross. Tobar Eoin Baiste, a dry stone built well about 150 metres north-east of Kilmurry church. On staying at Minard during his 2000 researches, the author visited the ruins of Kilmurry church, and was advised that a carved stone had been recently found in a nearby bungalow; and another stone was in the wall of a shed.
RATHETOWE alias ARRAGENSIS. Add: The small ruinous church in the cemetery may date to the 15th century, and is partly built with stone from a more ancient church near to Ratto.

county CORK

Page 96. Timolage or Timoleague, c.1780 and 2000.

THE MUNSTER REBELLION OF 1598

Page 99. Add: 9th January 1588/9. Sir William Herbert to Sir. V. Browne. Answers 14 objections brought against him, including Receipt of the rents of Corkydwiny. The reparations of Currins.
24th March 1588/9. Nicholas Browne to Sir Edward Denny. He is discouraged at Sir William Herbert's likelihood to have Ballymacdaniel.
25th June 1589. 'From my castle of the Currins.' Sir Charles Herbert to Sir William Herbert. 'I intend to obtain the lands of Bally M'Danyell by exchange or otherwise.'
Page 102, second paragraph. Add: The lands of Ballyloughrane were granted to Maurice Stack in 1596. The following year, Patents of Pardon were passed in favour of Maurice and his brother Thomas. In 1600 Maurice Stack was murdered in Beal Castle (on Lady Kerry's orders) and Thomas was hanged the next day by Lord Kerry.

CHAPMAN LATER FORTUNES IN IRELAND

Page 131. Add: At the end of December 1796 a French fleet arrived off Bantry Bay. Amongst the militias raised was that of Westmeath at Bandon in June-July 1797, and it saw some action.

Page 140. At KILLUA the Clonmellon Lodge in Gothic style, and the similar gate-lodge.

KILLUA CASTLE cemetery. Ruins of church, and headstones of Montague Chapman 1853-1907, Maria Chapman c.1850-1898, Dora Chapman c.1850-1921, and Benjamin Chapman 1865-1914.

Page 142. WILLIAM CHAPMAN. Add: His Club was said to be the Reform. His estate comprised: Westmeath: 5,042 acres, value £3,398; Meath: 1,386 acres, £1,217; Mayo: 2,664 acres, £88.
Page 144. Add: In the 1911 Dublin census, the residents of the house at 39 Northumberland Road in Pembroke West, Dublin are shown as:
Edith Sarah Hamilton Chapman. Age 63. Church of Ireland. Born Dublin.
Eda J. L. Chapman. 36. C of I. Born Dublin.
Ros Isabel Chapman. 32. C of I. Born Dublin.. 30. C of I. Born Dublin.
Florence Luis Chapman. 30. C of I. Born Dublin.
Mabel Cicell Chapman. 29. C of I. Born co. Westmeath.
Bridget Blaney. 33. Catholic. Cook. Single. Born co. Kildare.
In Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Oficial Classes for 1915, the 7th Baronet's (T. R. T. Chapman) heir presumptive was his brother Francis Vansittart Chapman D.L., J.P.(born 1850), co. Westmeath. Sheriff 1890. Club: Arthur's, and Kildare Street, Dublin. At South Hill, Delvin, co. Westmeath. He died unmarried in 1915.

The entrance doorway of South Hill, co. Westmeath, with one of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary. 1999.

RECAPITULATION

Page 149. Add:

27th January 1924. TEL wrote to Florence Hardy: "But that picture of Killua . . . surely that was Frampton property. Am I to think of it as a gift (once I meant to earn money & buy the place; but now I'm wiser & want only to buy Cloud's Hill . . . I've earned the worth of it in the cottage); it's one I'd value very much, but I hardly like to assume it, when it may be only a loan. If it's a gift, then please who's gift - for I'd owe a letter of thanks. Will you be good enough to enlighten my darkness?" This referred to Killua Castle in co. Westmeath, north-west of Dublin. The property belonged to another branch of the Chapman family, and was never inherited by TEL's father, Thomas Chapman, whose younger sister Caroline married her cousin Sir Montague Richard Chapman of Killua, the 5th Baronet. The title, but not the Killua property, passed to Thomas Chapman in 1914. No reply to this letter is known. Had the picture come fom the Frampton family Collection? But see 18th May 1924 below.

Page 149. Add: Lawrence was to include a Raleigh poem in his posthumous book Minorities.

Jeremy Wilson in his Lawrence of Arabia: The authorised biography, on pages 789 and 1130 quotes from a TEL letter of 16th June 1927 to Edward Eliot, in which Lawrence mentions what he understands about his Chapman ancestry. And in his Appendix I, Wilson deals at some length with Lawrence's ancestry and his immediate Chapman family fortunes.

BIBLIOGRAHY

Pages 152 et seq. Add:

Orlans, Harold T.E.Lawrence. Biography of a Broken Hero. McFarland & Co. Inc, North Carolina 2002.

MacLyacht, Edward The Surnames of Ireland Irish Academic Press, co. Dublin 1989

MacLyacht, Edward Irish Families: Their names, Arms & Origins Helicon Ltd, Dublin. 1957

BACK COVER

Penultimate paragraph. The author is no longer Secretary of the Weymouth Branch of The Royal British Legion.

Last paragraph. The author is no longer a Vice-President of the T.E.Lawrence Society, having been made instead an Honorary Member for services to the Society.

T.E.LAWRENCE AND THE DORSET QUEEN'S OWN YEOMANRY 1915-1918, AND HMS SCOTIA

2008-06-18T11:26:00.033+01:00

KNIGHT FAMILY ANCESTRY OF THOMAS HARDY

2008-05-03T09:44:00.035+01:00

JOHN T. GODDARD OBE, MC, JP - WEYMOUTH'S WW2 MAYOR

2008-04-26T20:26:00.007+01:00

Although not strictly within the remit of this blog, at least the subject is Dorset related as intimated.

T.E.LAWRENCE INQUEST RE-ENACTMENT

2008-04-26T20:26:00.005+01:00

THOMAS HARDY & SIR EDMUND GOSSE

2008-04-25T19:21:00.016+01:00

Thomas Hardy O.M. by Sir Edmund Gosse Litt.D.

This monograph was first written and self-published in 1968 in a limited edition, with a 2nd revised edition similarly published in 1978 which has long been out of print.

As there is no possibility of any further re-print, it has been thought useful to put it into my blog for those who have never seen an original.

Unfortunately a copy of the 2nd edition is currently not to hand, thus a form of the first edition with the 1970 Supplement will have to suffice for the present.

T.E.LAWRENCE SOCIETY

2008-02-12T08:51:00.000Z

There is a T.E.Lawrence Society whose address is: The T.E.Lawrence Society, P.O. Box 728, Oxford OX2 9ZJ.
There is also a freely available website at: www.telsociety.org.uk

T.E.LAWRENCE AND THEODORE POWYS

2008-01-11T09:12:00.001Z

T.E.LAWRENCE'S IRISH ANCESTRY AND RELATIONSHIP TO SIR WALTER RALEIGH

2008-01-08T20:23:00.000Z

Lawrence's real name should have been Chapman, as his father was an Irish landowner in co. Westmeath and who was to inherit the Chapman baronetcy. But because father had all Chapman daughters, and all his Lawrence sons were illegitimate the baronetcy became extinct on his death.

The Chapman family arrived in Ireland with the 16th/17th Munster Plantations, having it is believed originated in Devon. My above titled book published in 2000 attempts to detail all this, and convincingly puts straight the family legend that it was descended from Sir Walter Raleigh, though it was distantly related.

This is an A5 size paperback, of 153 pages, plus 8 pages of b/w illustrations, with colour covers. Extensive Bibliography.

Although out-of-print, it may well be obtainable on the internet.

T.E.LAWRENCE: HIS ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS

2008-01-08T20:10:00.000Z

Have you ever wondered what decorations, etc. Lawrence obtained during his service in the Army and R.A.F.? Everything you need to know could well be found in my 2006 publication with the above title.
It is a 40-page stapled A5 paperback, plus 8 pages of illustrations (4 in colour).
It describes Lawrence's gazetted and other awards; how they were gained (and dramatically refused at a private audience with King George V). Also considers other spurious awards. Includes updated and new details not included in the first edition of 1989.
Costs £4-00 plus postage & packing. Can be obtained and paid for through ebay and PayPal.

T.E.Lawrence and Thomas Hardy - their friendship

2008-01-04T19:43:00.000Z

Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935) also known as 'Lawrence of Arabia', when he was posted to the Bovington Tank Depot in Dorset in 1923, met Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) the Dorset novelist and poet at his Dorchester home of Max Gate. They became great friends, and after Hardy's death Lawrence kept a correspondence with Hardy's widow Florence.
This story has been extensively researched by Ronald Knight, who has written and privately published limited editions of: COLONEL T.E.LAWRENCE (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) VISITS MR & MRS THOMAS HARDY (1985); T.E.LAWRENCE AND THE MAX GATE CIRCLE (1988) with a second revised edition in 1995. Enough further information has since been amassed to warrant yet another revised edition.
Although the above publications are out-of-print, copies may possibly be obtainable on the internet through ebay, abebooks, etc.