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Interesting article on a number of TE Lawrence letters up for sale at @Sothebys by @mbridge82 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/lawrence-of-arabia-tried-to-block-publication-of-his-autobiography-zg8ktrg9w
This one, to Leeson, refers to "Hornby". "He was a very good fellow: got into trouble at the end, over women and wine + was fired from Palestine political: has pulled himself together again and deserves a fresh start."
pic courtesy of @Sothebys
pic courtesy of @Sothebys
Here is Henry Sylvester Hornby https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205074953
It was possibly taken in May 1917, when Lawrence encountered Hornby and Stewart Newcombe on his way northeast from Wajh, at the start of his epic trek that ended with the capture of Aqaba in July.
Here's Newcombe https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205018867
Hornby was an old Wykehamist who then worked on the East Nigerian Railway. He then spent the war blowing up railways rather than building them. ‘Arabs told me … that Hornby would worry the metals with his teeth when guncotton failed’, Lawrence joked after the war.
Lawrence met both Hornby and Newcombe on 17 May 1917 and these photos probably date from that day. Lawrence was critical of both men's approach.
"Hornby spoke little Arabic; and Newcombe not enough to persuade, though enough to give orders; but orders were not in place inland."
And Newcombe did not think much of Lawrence. "It does not help us to win the war merely to collect scraps of information about Bedouins, unless we also hurt the Turk."
The 17 May encounter effectively marked the divergence between two schools of thought. Lawrence's: push the revolt northwards; Newcombe's and Hornby's: try to cut the railway line permanently to force the Turkish garrison in Medina to surrender.
In July 1917, just as Lawrence entered Aqaba, Hornby and Newcombe were engaged in a spectacular raid on the railway. Near here, Sahl al Matran: (my photo, taken in 2005)
Hornby was deafened when a charge exploded in his face. At this point the British simply laid gun cotton beside the rails, lit the fuse, and ran. But this produced a clean break in the rail which meant it was easy to replace.
The British refined their methods. In April 1918, Lawrence and Hornby took part in a raid on Mudawara, today just inside Jordan. This time they laid the charges under the sleepers, which were made of metal.
This was far more effective. The blast bent the sleeper upwards, twisting the rails it was attached to. ‘Suddenly there was a hell of a bang, then another, another, another, until hundreds of yards of rails were twisted and bent like cheap hairpins’ wrote a witness.
Hornby won an MC. I had always wondered what happened to him after the war. This letter gives us a hint. He died in 1936, seven months or so after Lawrence.
