We are very sorry to have heard from Jeremy Wilson of the passing of Professor Mary Bryden, who contributed so much to Lawrence scholarship and the Society. Jeremy writes:
“I am extremely sorry to report that Mary Bryden died on November 5th. She was an exceptional person, the most distinguished scholar in the UK interested in T. E. Lawrence. She had intended to write a book about him.”
In 2004 she gave a remarkable paper, Lawrence, Malraux, and the Figure of the ‘Aventurier’, at the T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium. In 2012 she gave another, Studies in Detraction: Aldington’s Predecessor, Herbert Read. Only a few days beforehand she learned that she had cancer.
Early in 2015 Mary organised a workshop on T. E. Lawrence at the Institut d’Etudes Avancées in Paris; but shortly before it took place her health suddenly deteriorated and she was unable to attend. The Institut made a video of the papers which she watched with keen interest.
Mary’s passing is a deep loss to T. E. Lawrence scholarship, as it is to her family and friends.”
We pass on our very sincere condolences to Mary’s family.