Three photographs by T. E. Lawrence, 1912

Vintage prints

The British Museum's excavations at Carchemish involved frequent dealings with the Ottoman authorities. Woolley and Lawrence were therefore heavily dependent on advice from the local British Consular staff. Ralph Fontana, the British Consul in Aleppo, and his wife Winifred were very pleasant company; they possessed an excellent library of contemporary literature and Lawrence often visited them to borrow books. It was probably through them that he heard that James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915) had been appointed British Vice-Consul at Beirut.

Lawrence was in Beirut on his way to England when Flecker and his wife arrived there in August 1911, and they spent a whole day together. Thereafter Lawrence was welcomed by the Fleckers whenever he passed through Beirut. They regarded him and Fontana as the most civilised company they had found in the East. In the summer of 1912, after Lawrence had been forced to abandon his plans to go on a trek in Syria, he and Dahoum spent the month of August in Jebail. While there, they visited the Fleckers at Areya where these photographs were taken. By the spring of 1913 Flecker was already sick with tuberculosis and he was forced to leave Beirut. Lawrence continued to correspond with him, and after the war kept in contact with his widow.

In 1925 Lawrence attempted to write a short essay giving his impressions of Flecker, but he abandoned it unfinished.¹

1. See T. E. Lawrence, Men in Print, ed. A. W. Lawrence, London, 1940, for an edition version of the text.

10.8 x 8.2 each

Seated photograph inscribed in pencil: Roy in Arab dress

Provenance: By descent.