- Philip Graves
:"For the Vertigo Comics character, see:"
Agent Graves .Philip Perceval Graves (February 25 1876 –June 3 1953 ) was a British journalist and writer. While working as a foreign correspondent of "The Times " inConstantinople , he exposed "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion " as anantisemitic plagiarism ,fraud , andHoax .Born in Ballylickey Manor,
Cork County ,Ireland , into a prominent Anglo-Irish family, Graves studied in Haileybury andOxford University and became a prominent journalist and author. He was the elder half brother of authorRobert Graves .As a correspondent of "
The Times " in Constantinople from 1908 to 1914, he reported on the events precedingWorld War I . In 1914, as a British citizen, he had to leave theOttoman Empire due to the war. In 1915-1919, he served in theBritish Army in theMiddle East war theatre. As a captain in Army Intelligence in Caïro he worked withT. E. Lawrence on the " Turkish Army Manual " for the Arab Bureau. His uncle Sir Robert Windham Graves had been British Consul inErzurum (1895) and financial adviser to the Turkish government (1912) and worked for Civil Intelligence in Caïro during the same period. Sir Robert's brother Charles Larcom Graves was married to Alice Grey, daughter of SirEdward Grey .After 1919, Graves reported from his own homeland on the
Anglo-Irish War . He worked as a foreign correspondent inIndia , theLevant and in theBalkans and finally returned to London to work as an editor of "The Times".In 1921 he exposed "
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion " as antisemiticplagiarism in a series of articles in "The Times".His most monumental work was a 21-volume history of
World War II . Graves received numerous international awards and titles, among which are FrenchLégion d'honneur and Italian Crown order.In his journeys, Philip Graves developed an interest in
entomology and published articles in scientific journals. He was member of theRoyal Irish Academy .He retired in 1946 and dedicated himself mainly to zoological hobbies.
Entomology
Graves specialised in butterflies (
Lepidoptera ) ofSyria ,Lebanon ,Iraq , andPalestine , often working withRobert Eldon Ellison , a career diplomat andfellow Irishman (born in Wingstown near Dublin).His published work on insects reflects the strengths of his collection but not its extent. In 1938, for instance, he presented more than 2,500 specimens to the
Natural History Museum , London. These are described in the catalogue of acquisitions Rhopalocera (Levant and Balkans). There are a few specimens, including an excellent series ofArchon apollinus in theUlster Museum , Belfast.His published work on insects includes:
*Collecting Lepidoptera in Syria, 1905 "Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var" 18:125-6 (1906).
*Collecting in Syria:Ain Zhalta in May -June 1905. "Entomologist’s Rec. J. Va"r 18:149-152 (1906).
*A contribution to the fauna of Syria "Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var" 23: 31-36 (1910).
*Two new Lycaenid subspecies from the Lebanon "Entomologist" 56: 154-157(1925).
*The Rhopalocera and Grypocera of Palestine and Transjordania "Trans. Ent. Soc., London", 1925 17-125 (1925).
*with Ellison, R.E. The butterflies of theJabal Quinesia , Lebanon Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var 40:177-180 ( 1938).An account of Graves work in entomology is given in Hesselbarth, G.; Oorschot, H. van & Wagener, S.,1975 "Die Schmetterlinge der Türkei", Band 2: 1179 - 1199 [B 2189:2] . He is named for
Gonepteryx rhamni gravesi Huggins,1956, the Irish race of the Brimstone butterfly.clarifymePolitical Works
* "Briton and Turk", London, Hutchinson Publishers, 1941
* "Palestine, the land of three faiths", 1923
* "The question of the straits", Ernest Benn Publishers, 1931
* "Memoirs of King Abdallah of Transjordan" (edited by P. Graves, translated from the Arabic by G. Khuri), London, Jonathan Cape, 1950Poetry
* "The Pursuit", London, Faber and Faber, 1930 (in the same series of books as W.H. Auden's "Poems" and J.G. MacLeod's "The Ecliptic" advertised by Faber as "by the coming men".)
References
* Richard Perceval Graves: " Robert Graves - The Assault Heroic 1895-1926 " Weidenfeld and Nicolson London 1986 ISBN 0297816314
* Lawrence James: " The Golden Warrior - The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia " Paragon New York 1993 ( index s.v. Graves, Philip ) ISBN 1557785791
External links
* [http://www.ballylickeymanorhouse.com Ballylickey Manor House, County Cork, Ireland. Now a hotel run by a son of Philip Graves]
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