Emily Overend Lorimer OBE (10 August 1881-June 1949), also published as ''E. O. Lorimer'', was an Anglo-Irish journalist, linguist, political analyst, and writer.

Life

Emily Martha Overend was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

on 10 August 1881, the daughter of Thomas George Overend, barrister and county court judge, and his wife Hannah (née Kingsbury). She had a sister and two brothers. They were an Anglo-Irish family and Lorimer was educated in

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

where she studied Modern Languages and finished there in 1904. She went on to finish her education at Somerville College, Oxford in 1906. Lorimer spend 1907 in Munich at the University. She married

David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer CIE (24 December 1876 in Dundee – 26 February 1962) was a member of the British Indian Army, a political official in the British Indian government and a noted linguist. The Indian Politic ...

in 1910 in Christ Church, Leeson Park, Dublin. She worked as a tutor in Germanic

Philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

for

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

, Oxford where, in her spare time, she learned Sanskrit. David's sister,

Hilda Hilda is one of several female given names derived from the name ''Hild'', formed from Old Norse , meaning 'battle'. Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. Th ...

took the position of vice-principal of Somerville College during the second world war. In fact it was through her friendship with Hilda that Lorimer met her husband. Lorimer tended to go along with her husband's work and when he moved she traveled with him. She worked as his private secretary when he was in the Middle east. She also worked as editor of 'Basrah Times' during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and she was connected with the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

. Lorimer was a resident of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

during the Arab Revolt. During the 20s and 30s she was one of Britain's leading commentators on

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and Nazism. Working for Faber and Faber she translated his works along with other German language authors including Gustav Krist. Lorimer took up her scholarship when her husband retired in 1927. She had continued to learn new languages and study. She loved when her husband had overseas postings. Lorimer was not in favour of Arab independence nor of Irish home rule. She didn't believe in women's suffrage. However she described herself as passionate about Arab language and literature even if she wasn't able to understand the culture. She and her husband were awarded the Burton Memorial Medal by the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

in 1948. She had also been awarded an OBE. The Lorimers adopted a daughter who later became Mrs. Munro.

Bibliography

Author

* '' What Hitler Wants'', 1939 * '' Language Hunting in the Karakoram'', 1939

Translator

* '' Persian Tales'', 1919 * '' Frederick the Second, 1194–1250'', 1931: Translated from German * '' His Excellency the Spectre: the life of Fritz von Holstein'', 1933: Translated from German * ''German's Third Empire'', 1934: Translated from German * '' Prisoner in the Forbidden Land'', 1938: Translated from German * '' Twilight in Vienna'', 1938: Translated from German * '' Christian the Ninth'', 1939: Translated from German and Danish * '' A scientist in Tartary: from the Hoang-ho to the Indus'', 1939 * '' The sociology of the colonies'', 1949 * '' Daily life in ancient Rome'', 1941: Translated from French * '' Alone through the forbidden land:journeys in disguise through soviet Central Asia'', 1938 * '' Men of letters and the English public in the eighteenth century, 1660-1744'', 1948 * ''Via Dolorosa'', 1948: Translated from Dutch * '' Cicero: the secrets of his correspondence'', 1951: Translated from French

Editor

* ''The Arab of the desert: a glimpse into Badawin life in Kuwait and Sau'di Arabia'' by H.R.P. Dickson, 1949

Chapters

* '' Never again! (The fight against the lie)'', 1942

References and sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorimer, Emily 1881 births 1949 deaths Anglo-Irish writers Journalists from Dublin (city) Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford 20th-century Irish translators Alumni of Trinity College Dublin