On the 50th
anniversary of the film, Lawrence of Arabia, the Royal Society of
Chemists have offered £300 for a 'script' - the missing sequence - describing
Major Herbert Garland's contribution to Lawrence's story.
Garland's contribution
to the Hejaz campaign (see: An Oriental Assembly - Bimbashi (Major) Herbert Garland and A young man's near miss!) was indeed highly significant; his invention and
application of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) led directly to him
using one of his own hair-trigger devices to derail the first train in the
desert war on 12 February 1917 at Towaira. The effect of this one action alone
must have sent ripples of alarm throughout the Turkish command and would have
no doubt given immense confidence to the Arab leaders and their tribal forces
at a critical stage of the campaign.
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| Not Arabia, but Cabo de Gata, Spain |
But Herbert Garland's
influence on rail-raiding operations in the Hejaz and later in the northern
sphere of operations - by which time he had left the area through ill-health - was not so
much in what he invented, itself a considerable achievement in the early months
of the campaign, but in the confidence he imparted to novices such as Lawrence
and the untrained Bedouin in handling the material and the tools of his trade.
Experienced military staff such as Newcombe and Hornby would not have needed
much encouragement to pick up the ‘homemade’ devices and run with them. But Garland’s
familiarity with high explosives was infectious. "Sappers handled it
like a sacrament,” wrote Lawrence, “but Garland would shove a handful of
detonators into his pocket with a string of primers, fuse, and fusees and jump
gaily on his camel for a week's ride to the Hejaz railway."
This is also
Lawrence’s description of working with a Garland mine: “Laying a Garland mine
was shaky work, but scrabbling in pitch darkness up and down a hundred yards of
railway, feeling for a hair-trigger buried in the ballast, seemed, at the time,
an almost uninsurable occupation. The two charges connected with it were so
powerful that they would have rooted out seventy yards of track; and I saw
visions of suddenly blowing up, not only myself, but my whole force, every
moment. To be sure, such a feat would have properly completed the bewilderment
of the Turks!”
Lawrence had come a
long way from map-making and compiling reports on troop dispositions from the
safety of his office in Cairo. Explosives held no mystery for him now and he
was confident in handling something that was normally the domain of a select
band of sappers like Newcombe, a confidence which he was to put to effective
use when the campaign shifted to the north and where the use of electric
plungers took over from Garland’s IEDs.
Lawrence did not forget how useful and effective explosives could be. Nearly twenty years later, he enlisted Lord Carlow’s help in taking off the top of a tree that was threatening to hit the corner of Clouds Hill cottage if it ever came down. They obtained some gelignite from Portland and lashed it to the offending branch with an old puttee, setting a fuse which his neighbour Pat Knowles was allowed to light. Standing at a safe distance the tree came down exactly as planned except for the added inconvenience of the skylight blowing in with a pretty musical tinkle as glass showered in on the upstairs music room. Lawrence’s only comment was a wry ‘Blast!’ and Knowles was dispatched to get some replacement glass from Bill Bugg’s workshop at Bovington camp while Lord Carlow helped Lawrence saw up the branches into logs. A mixture of school-boy larks mixed with a healthy dose of Garland’s bravura with explosives.
Lawrence did not forget how useful and effective explosives could be. Nearly twenty years later, he enlisted Lord Carlow’s help in taking off the top of a tree that was threatening to hit the corner of Clouds Hill cottage if it ever came down. They obtained some gelignite from Portland and lashed it to the offending branch with an old puttee, setting a fuse which his neighbour Pat Knowles was allowed to light. Standing at a safe distance the tree came down exactly as planned except for the added inconvenience of the skylight blowing in with a pretty musical tinkle as glass showered in on the upstairs music room. Lawrence’s only comment was a wry ‘Blast!’ and Knowles was dispatched to get some replacement glass from Bill Bugg’s workshop at Bovington camp while Lord Carlow helped Lawrence saw up the branches into logs. A mixture of school-boy larks mixed with a healthy dose of Garland’s bravura with explosives.
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| Clouds Hill with skylight |
Many years later,
during a visit to Clouds Hill, I pointed out to the curator of the cottage that
rain water was dripping from the same skylight onto the leather sofa which I
helped shift a few inches away from the wall while she ran to get a bucket. Where was
old Bill Bugg when you needed him?
It’s a thought-provoking
idea to link the Royal Society of Chemists’ new found hero with a major
cinematic event and make chemistry ‘sexy’ at the same
time - but an interesting story all the same! I wonder what the winning
script will have to say about Garland's contribution and how many more minutes will it add to a film
that has historically been chopped about; apparently Imax has it down to 45 minutes!
If you fancy yourself as a scriptwriter see:
But just remember how long it took Michael Wilson to get a credit!
