Philip Perceval Graves (25 February 1876 – 3 June 1953) was an Anglo-Irish journalist and writer. While working as a foreign correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, he exposed ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

'' as an antisemitic plagiarism, fraud and hoax.

Life

Early life and education

Graves, eldest son of the writer

Alfred Perceval Graves Alfred Perceval Graves (22 July 184627 December 1931), was an Anglo-Irish poet, songwriter and folklorist. He was the father of British poet and critic Robert Graves. Early life Graves was born in Dublin and was the son of The Rt Rev. Cha ...

(1846–1931), was born in

Ballylickey Ballylickey or Ballylicky () is a village on the N71 national secondary road and Bantry Bay near Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. The Ouvane River flows into Bantry Bay at Ballylickey. Tourism There is a caravan park at Eagle Point. The Seavie ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, Ireland, into a prominent Anglo-Irish family. He studied at Haileybury and

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

receiving a bachelor's degree from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in March 1900. He was the elder half-brother of the authors Robert Graves and Charles Graves.Ballylickey Manor History

Career

As a correspondent of ''

'' in Constantinople from 1908 to 1914, he reported on the events preceding World War I. In 1914, as a British citizen, he had to leave the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

due to the war. In 1915–1919, he served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in the Middle East war theatre. As a captain in Army Intelligence in Cairo he worked with T. E. Lawrence on the '' Turkish Army Manual '' for the

Arab Bureau The Arab Bureau was a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department established in 1916 during the First World War, and closed in 1920, whose purpose was the collection and dissemination of propaganda and intelligence about the Arab regions of ...

. His uncle Sir Robert Windham Graves had been British Consul in

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

(1895) and financial adviser to the Turkish government (1912) and worked for Civil Intelligence in Cairo during the same period. After 1919, Graves reported from his own homeland on the

Anglo-Irish War The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mi ...

. He knew Michael Collins,

W. T. Cosgrave William Thomas Cosgrave (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ir ...

, and other leaders of the Irish independence movement, and was closely involved in reporting events during this critical period of Irish history. He later worked as a foreign correspondent in India, the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

and in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, before returning to London to work as an editor of ''The Times''. In 1921, he exposed ''

'' as an anti-Semitic forgery in a series of articles in ''The Times''. His most monumental work was 22 of the 24-volume quarterly review of the events of and participants in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

written during the conflict, the first two volumes being compiled by Sir

Ronald Storrs Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs (19 November 1881 – 1 November 1955) was an official in the British Foreign and Colonial Office. He served as Oriental Secretary in Cairo, Military Governor of Jerusalem, Governor of Cyprus, and Governor of No ...

Awards

Graves received numerous international awards and titles, among which are French

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

that he received for his work in British intelligence during the First World WarGraves, R. P., Robert Graves: The assault heroic, Biography 1895-1926. and the Order of the Crown of Italy.

Other interests

In his journeys, Graves developed an interest in entomology and published articles in scientific journals. He was member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Retirement

He retired in 1946 to Ballylickey and dedicated himself mainly to zoological hobbies. Here he made a study of the Irish butterflies, being especially interested in the local sub-species. He restored Ballylickey House as a hotel, which was taken over by his son after his death.

Entomology

Graves specialised in butterflies ( Lepidoptera) of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, often working with Robert Eldon Ellison, a career diplomat and fellow Irishman (born in Wingstown, near

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 ...

). 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 The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

. These are described in the catalogue of acquisitions Rhopalocera (Levant and Balkans). There are a few specimens, including an excellent series of ''

Archon apollinus ''Archon apollinus'', the false Apollo, is a species of butterfly belonging to the Parnassinae subfamily. The species is found in Central and Eastern Europe and West Asia. They are found in Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebano ...

'' in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. 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 the Jabal 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 2189:2 He is commemorated in the subspecies of the Brimstone butterfly found in Ireland, '' Gonepteryx rhamni gravesi'' Huggins, 1956.

Political 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, 1950

Poetry

* ''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

*Graves, Richard Perceval. '' Robert Graves – The Assault Heroic 1895–1926 '' Weidenfeld and Nicolson London 1986 *James, Lawrence. '' The Golden Warrior – The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia '' Paragon New York 1993 (index s.v. Graves, Philip)

External links

Ballylickey Manor House, County Cork, Ireland. Now a hotel run by a son of Philip GravesLink to five of the World War II volumes authored by Graves that each covered three months of the war
- {{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Philip 1876 births 1953 deaths English male journalists English non-fiction writers 20th-century Irish historians Irish journalists Irish entomologists Irish lepidopterists People from County Cork Protocols of the Elders of Zion The Times journalists English male non-fiction writers Arab Bureau officers Graves family British Army personnel of World War I