T E Lawrence
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In January 1921 when Winston Churchill was at the Colonial Office he invited Colonel T E Lawrence to be an adviser on Arab affairs. Towards the end of January Lawrence was appointed to the Middle East Department, which he joined on 17 February. His first task was to plan the agenda for the Cairo Conference which began on 12 March and lasted a fortnight. After the conference Lawrence travelled widely in the Middle East throughout April, mainly by air, before returning to England. Lawrence left England again on 8 July, presumably by sea, as he arrived in Jeddah on 29 July.
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He spent about a fortnight there to try to negotiate a British settlement with King Abdullah. Lawrence left Jeddah on 12 August, probably in a coastal steamer, destination Aden. This was during Ramadan and he may have decided to leave Jeddah until Ramadan was over.
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It is not known when Lawrence landed in Aden, but his departure date was 25 August – so he was there for around 10 days. To ‘earn his keep’ he also did a reconnaissance of the terrain around Lahej, ‘to assess the suitability of the terrain for armoured cars’. This was all arranged by the residency and he was accompanied by Major Reilly, at that time the 2nd Assistant. (See Sir Bernard Reilly).
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The pair travelled out on the motor coach which left Maalla Station at 0645 on the 21st. The original plan had been to take the morning train – but perhaps there were no trains on Sundays, as the 21st was a Sunday. A residency car had been pre-positioned at Lahej, the Sultan having been asked to provide accommodation for the driver, as well as being informed that Lawrence was visiting the Lahej area. He replied via the stationmaster at Sheikh Othman who telephoned the residency to the effect that ‘Colonel Lawrence and Major Reilly would be gladly received and highly welcome’. The car drove around Lahej, as well as carrying out the reconnaissance which was expected to be towards Am Rija and also to Shudshaif; during the reconnaissance the Sultan was asked to provide a mounted escort. There is no record of Lawrence having called on the Sultan. The two officers returned to Aden on the motor coach which left Lahej at 1740 that afternoon.
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What Lawrence got up to during the remainder of his time in Aden is not known but whilst in Aden he wrote the lengthy preface to the catalogue of an exhibition of Arab portraits by Eric Kennington to be held at the Leicester Galleries in London later that year.
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As has been mentioned Lawrence left Aden on 25 August, aboard HMS Clematis, the Station Ship at Aden. Built as a minesweeping sloop of the Flower Class in 1915 the Clematis and others of her class were used post-war as colonial gunboats and station ships.
HMS Clematis
The ship called briefly at Hodeida for 2 hours so that Lawrence could have a talk with Captain Muhammad Fazluddin, who was acting as the British envoy to al-Ildrisi. Fazluddin had been warned by telegram to be ready to go aboard the Clematis as soon as she anchored off Hodeida. The Clematis then went to Kamaran where she arrived late afternoon of the 26th, but in time for a bathing party to go ashore for a couple of hours before sunset. The Clematis left Hodeida around midday on the 27th, anchoring off Jeddah mid-morning of the 29th. On arrival the Clematis fired a 21-gun salute in honour of King Abdullah, the salute being returned by the shore battery. The Clematis left Hodeida for Port Sudan on the afternoon of the 31st. Major Reilly accompanied Lawrence on the Clematis. History does not relate as to whether this was done out of courtesy or to keep an eye on him!