4-11 November 1916

“In Jidda was the Euryalus, with Admiral Wemyss, bound for Port Sudan that [he] might visit Sir Reginald Wingate at Khartum. Sir Reginald, as
Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, had been put in command of the British
military side of the Arab adventure in place of Sir Henry McMahon, who continued to direct its politics; and it was necessary for me to see him, to impart my impressions to him. So I begged the Admiral for a passage over sea, and a place in his train to Khartum …

“Khartum felt cool after Arabia, and nerved me to show Sir Reginald Wingate my long reports written in those days of waiting at Yenbo. I urged that the situation seemed full of promise. The main need was skilled assistance; and the campaign should go prosperously if some regular British officers, professionally competent and speaking Arabic, were attached to the Arab leaders as technical advisers, to keep us in proper touch. Wingate was glad to hear a hopeful view. The Arab Revolt had been his dream for years.”

Events of 4-11 November 1916 as recounted by T. E. Lawrence in Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926).

After leaving Feisal’s camp, Lawrence had ridden on to Yenbo, where he wrote a series of reports on the situation he had found in the
Hejaz. On 1 November, Lawrence sailed on to Jiddah, then changed ships bound for Port Sudan and Khartoum. There he spent his time in discussions with Sir Reginald Wingate, who had been chosen to replace Sir Henry McMahon as the British High Commission in Cairo.

On Lawrence’s return to Cairo, he would find that his long-
hoped-for transfer to the Arab Bureau had at last been approved.