T.E. Lawrence and the Max Gate circle

Excerpt from the At their first meeting in 1923, Thomas Hardy, at 82, had long ago ended a distinguished career as a novelist, but was now well established as poet. Florence, Hardy’s second wife, was considerably younger at 44, and on her marriage had for a while at least ended a literary career. Whilst Lawrence, in his mid-30s, already had a short but distinguished military career behind him, with probably the world his oyster-yet had renounced all this for a self-imposed obscurity. Hardy had put all his early life, innermost thoughts and philosophies into his prose and verse-albeit much in an enigmatic manner. Lawrence had yet to publish his great masterpiece, based on his wartime experiences, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, in a public version; whilst his legendary exploits, already world famous, were so largely because of the illustrated lecture tours of the American journalist-Lowell Thomas. Hard was self-effacing by nature, with a devoted wife to maintain his privacy. By his deliberate ‘Garbo-like’ aloneness, Lawrence only caused more unwanted publicity for himself. This short study is not to explain the ‘whole-being’ of each (or any) of the trio, but to touch on their respective similarities and differences, which could appeal to the others. Most of the literary and artistic celebrities mentioned in these pages were known to each other, visiting each other either singly, in pairs or in groups. Hardy, seemingly the eldest of this circle, in his later years confined himself to his home at Max Gate in rural Dorset. As a result therefore, everyone else at one time or another would find himself trekking down to Dorset, often to stay overnight at Max Gate or at the Dorchester hotel.