Garden pursuits

Jeremy Wilson

T.E. Lawrence did not invite Henry Williamson to Clouds Hill "to discuss Williamson's suggestion that Lawrence become actively involved in the British Union of Fascists."

The letter of 10 May 1935 from Williamson to Lawrence that prompted Lawrence's telegram inviting HW to Clouds Hill has been published. In it, Williamson asked if he could call at Clouds Hill to drop off an unpublished typescript by V.M. Yeates, hoping that Lawrence would read it and give an opinion on some editorial changes.

Williamson did not become a Fascist supporter until after Lawrence's death. He joined the British Union of Fascists in the autumn of 1937. That year - presumably hoping to harness Lawrence's name to the Fascist cause - Williamson invented the story that he had asked to call at Clouds Hill in order to discuss a possible meeting between Lawrence and Hitler.

The letter, telegram, and a discussion by Anne Williamson (HW's daughter-in-law and major biographer) are published in T.E. Lawrence, 'Correspondence with Henry Williamson' (Fordingbridge, Castle Hill Press, 2000)

Liz Bird

Mr Clarke would know that the house is manned by volunteers and that there are no loos there if he were a member of the Trust.With his people skills and knowledge perhaps he should volunteer.

Peter Preen

What was the point of this article? Was it just an excuse for Mr Clarke to have a go at an innocent charitable volunteer, someone who will probably never see this article and therefore cannot retaliate. If so it remains a pointless childish exercise in bullying of a charitable person. Mr Clarke should be aware that he who throws the first stone shall recieve back 3,000fold, or so it says in the good book, I believe. Maybe his fellow reporters would like to start by making fun of Mr Clarke's many goofs. Now that would be a joy to read. By the way T E lawrence was a book reviewer for the Spectator, something I feel certain that Mr Clarke knows nothing about.

Colin Glover

I really must take issue with this poor piece of journalism which would be better suited to the gutter press than what I previously beleived to be a reputable publication.
I am a volunteer at Clouds Hill and am not hired by the Trust. I go there in my own time and at my own expense as I have a genuine interest in all things to do with Lawrence and enjoy imparting my knowledge with members of the public and indeed learning from them sometimes. It can be very stimulating. It is also true that volunteers cannot be expected to know everything on day one and as in life we learn as we go.
The inaccuracies in the article have been well covered by Jeremy Wilson and could have been avoided with proper research. Obviously research is not a priority of the writer but maybe if he were to check out the Spectator's archives for 1927 and look at the book reviews by a certain CD or Colin Dale he would find that this person was TE Lawrence, a fellow employee!
I genuinely believe that a further article should be written by Mr Clarke correcting his inaccuracies and withdrawing his derogatory comments about volunteers. I am sure that the warden of Clouds Hill or any volunteer would welcome a further visit from Mr Clarke to discuss Lawrence in greater detail and help him construct a true and meaningful article to further enhance Lawrence's reputation and garner more visitors to Clouds Hill. But I suspect objective journalism was not the purpose of the article in the first place but merely sensationalism!