Philip Graves - Life

Life

Graves, eldest son of the writer Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 - 1931), was born in Ballylickey Manor, County Cork, Ireland, into a prominent Anglo-Irish family. He studied in Haileybury and Oxford University. He was the elder half brother of author Robert Graves.

As a correspondent of The Times 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 due to the war. In 1915-1919, he served in the British Army 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. His uncle Sir Robert Windham Graves had been British Consul in Erzurum (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. He knew Michael Collins, W. T. Cosgrave and the various Irish leaders and was closely involved in reporting events in this critical period of Irish history. He later worked as a foreign correspondent in India, the Levant and in the Balkans and before returning to London to work as an editor of The Times.

In 1921 he exposed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as antisemitic plagiarism in a series of articles in The Times.

His most monumental work was a 21-volume history of World War II. Graves received numerous international awards and titles, among which are French Légion d'honneur and Order of the Crown of Italy.

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

He retired in 1946 to Ballylickey Manor 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.