[Malta Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry].

Collection of nineteen (19) Letters and five (5) Congratulatory Telegrams on the occasion of Sir Harry Luke being awarded the post of Lieutenant Governor of Malta (1930 – 1938). The often very detailed and personal letters are full of praise and support for Luke and not seldom are filled with regret for seeing him not return to Palestine. Other colleagues who served in Malta, are encouraging him and promise he will like it there. Letters included are important reflections on Luke’s character and show his impeccable reputation among peers and family.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London / Austria / New York etc., June 1930. Octavo. From the personal library of Sir Harry Luke.

The collection includes some interesting context and wonderful examples of praise and admiration for Luke.

Here only a few examples:

1. Letter by Winifred Baird, who congratulates and applies as personal secretary in the same letter:

June 16th, 1930 – Eaton Place [London]: “My dear Mr.Luke – I do hope you will enhjoy the change to Malta but they are having some stormy days there just now. It is about ten years since they had the last riots and I expect after this fuss has blown over everything will settle down friendly for another period. Do you by any chance think you will require someone for all the very confidential correspondence that will require to be written ?…I think you know I worked at Bavière [The Auberge de Bavière], on Admiral Callthorpe’s Staff [that was Admiral of the Fleet The Honourable Sir Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe] for two years, and loved Malta…..″

2. Letter by G.F.Gracey – Overseas Delegate for “The Save the Children Fund”:

London, 13th June, 1930: “My dear Luke, I was very pleased to read in the Standard last evening of your proposed new appointment and to read in to-day’s Times the confirmation of same. I rejoice over this new success for you – you truly deserve it, and I am a great believer that your star is in the ascendant. I shall never forget your work in the Caucasus and I believe if your appointment had been earlier you would have saved the Caucasus, which would have been one of the greatest contributions that any man could have made to world peace. However, your successor to that post destroyed all such hope.
I was so sorry to have missed you when in Jerusalem….I am quite sure that after your experience in Palestine you will not be sorry to leave and that your new appointment as Assistan Governor General of Malta will give you new scope in solving the very natty problem that has arisen there, but your keen Christian interest in all Churches will enable you with the grace and wisdom which you possess, to bring this serious crisis to a successful conclusion…..You will receive many congratulations on your new appointment but none more whole-heartedly than those of your friend Geo. F. Gracey”

[Captain George Frederick Handel Gracey – (1878-1958) Born Belfast, son of the city organist, became a carpenter in a shipyard, became an industrial missionary at Urfa (Edessa) in Turkey for the American Near East Relief Committee; ‘after ten years in this vocation, he was caught in the maelstrom of the First World War, saw service on the terrain and among the people with which his missionary work had made him familiar, was given the rank of captain . . .’ (ROTC, p144); prisoner of war in Moscow and British Representative to the Armenian Republic, secretary of the Friends of Armenia, then of the Assyrian Settlement National Appeal, then worked for SCF.

DSO 1919, married a kinswoman of Sir Henry Wood. Overseas delegate 1929 to 1937; general secretary 1937-1948 (see obit in The Times, 18 March 1958) ‘During the First World War he organised single-handed the evacuation of 25,000 Armenians from Van in Turkey to Igir in Russia. He was appointed by the American Near East Relief Committee as one of their administrators after the Armenian massacres of 1915 and became a friend of Lawrence of Arabia; In 1917 he was appointed Intelligence Officer captured by the Russians. Twice he was lined up to be shot and twice reported dead, but he was eventually exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. Later he became the first British representative to the Armenian Republic of Erivan, and when that republic was overthrown and he returned to England he took up charitable work on behalf of Armenians and the Assyrians.’ (TWC No 1937, p.18) (Source: Univerity of Birmingham)]

3. Letter by a friend of Luke from Rome / including a calling card from Monsignor Peter Cavendish:

Rome, 16/6/1930: “Dear Harry, just read the Times. I am delighted to think you are going to Malta, with the proviso that you are pleased too – delighted because you will be in my sphere in that situation, because it is not a hard place for your family (I know the Casa Leone House & Garden so well) & because they are giving you a difficult job & that shows confidence. The du Canes were so nice to me when I was ill in Malta last year & I couldn’t help liking them at once. The first news of your appointment came from Monsignor Cavendish, a well known figure who is Dean of St.John’s Cathedral & a very intelligent prelate – not pure English certainly but a man who knows many people & though he talks a lot, I find him interesting & I think you might – so I enclose his card (with his knowledge) though you would prefer to talk church history to politics, I’m sure & so would he – Monsgr. C. is actually in Rome on holiday to avoid being dragged into disputes. But in any case this note may remind you that I am in Rome & at your disposal…..Ever yours Dick”

• Keywords: Autograph – British History · Autograph – History Rare · Autograph – Rare · British Colonial Administration · British Colonial History · British Foreign Office · British Foreign Policy · Harry Luke – Malta (1930 – 1938) · Malta · Malta Content (Autographed Letter Signed – ALS) · Malta Content / Sir Harry Luke Collection · Manuscript · Manuscript / Autograph – Rare · Middle East · Middle Eastern History – Rare · Sir Harry Luke · Sir Harry Luke – Personal Archive of Books and Correspondence · Sir Harry Luke Collection
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 31747AB

EUR 128.000,--