Philip Graves facts for kids

Philip Perceval Graves (born 1876, died 1953) was an Irish journalist and writer. He is best known for his work as a foreign reporter for The Times newspaper. While working in Constantinople (now Istanbul), he famously showed that a book called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a fake. This book was a harmful lie that spread hatred against Jewish people.

Philip Graves' Early Life

Philip Graves was born on December 25, 1876, in Ballylickey Manor, County Cork, Ireland. He came from an important Anglo-Irish family. His father, Alfred Perceval Graves, was also a writer.

Philip studied at Haileybury and then at Oxford University. He earned a degree from Oriel College, Oxford in 1900. He was also the older half-brother of two other famous writers, Robert Graves and Charles Patrick Graves.

A Journalist's Adventures

From 1908 to 1914, Philip Graves worked as a reporter for The Times newspaper in Constantinople (which is now Istanbul, Turkey). He reported on important events happening before World War I started.

When World War I began in 1914, Philip had to leave the Ottoman Empire because he was a British citizen. From 1915 to 1919, he joined the British Army and served in the Middle East. He was a captain in Army Intelligence in Cairo, Egypt. There, he worked with T. E. Lawrence (also known as Lawrence of Arabia) on a special guide for the Turkish Army.

After the war, Graves returned to Ireland. He reported on the Anglo-Irish War, a very important time in Irish history. He met many leaders of the Irish independence movement, like Michael Collins and W. T. Cosgrave.

Later, he worked as a foreign reporter in other parts of the world, including India, the Middle East, and the Balkans. Eventually, he came back to London to work as an editor for The Times.

Exposing a Famous Lie

In 1921, Philip Graves did something very important. He wrote a series of articles in The Times that proved The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a forgery. This book was a fake document that claimed to reveal a secret Jewish plan to control the world. Graves showed that it was a lie, copied from an old French book, and used to spread hatred against Jewish people. His work helped to expose this dangerous fraud.

During World War II, Philip Graves also wrote 22 volumes of a review about the events and people involved in the war. This was a huge project.

For his work, especially his intelligence work during World War I, he received important awards like the French Legion of Honour and the Order of the Crown of Italy.

Philip Graves' Love for Insects

Besides being a journalist, Philip Graves was also very interested in entomology, which is the study of insects. He even published articles in science journals and was a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

He retired in 1946 and went back to Ballylickey Manor. There, he spent most of his time on his hobby: studying butterflies. He was especially interested in the types of butterflies found in Ireland. He also turned Ballylickey House into a hotel, which his son took over after his death.

Studying Butterflies

Graves focused on butterflies (Lepidoptera) from places like Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine. He often worked with Robert Eldon Ellison, another Irishman who was a diplomat.

He collected many insects. For example, in 1938, he gave more than 2,500 butterfly specimens to the Natural History Museum, London. Some of his specimens, including a good collection of Archon apollinus, are also at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

One type of butterfly found in Ireland, the Brimstone butterfly, has a subspecies named after him: Gonepteryx rhamni gravesi.

Philip Graves' Books

Philip Graves wrote several books on different topics:

• Briton and Turk, about the relationship between Britain and Turkey (1941).
• Palestine, the land of three faiths, about the region of Palestine (1923).
• The question of the straits, about the important waterways in Turkey (1931).
• He also edited Memoirs of King Abdallah of Transjordan, which was translated from Arabic (1950).

Poetry

Philip Graves also wrote a book of poetry called The Pursuit in 1930.