DLA007-0011 Transcription

26 Bedford Road

Pinner Road

Harrow on the Hill

1915 March 23.

My dear friend,

Are you remembering that exactly a year ago, we started together from your home in London for Greece?^[1]

I had hoped to be with you to-day (but I fear it will be impossible) to thank God together for another year of mercy.

[Page 2]

Oh, how good he was to us on that journey, for we had no accident or illness, nothing but goodness and glorious vocation.

Thank God for it all! To-morrow I hope to be able to take you both to see the Holy Land, Palestine.

Good God, we pray Thee, soon to bring about in mercy a righteous and lasting peace. Look down in pity on all our soldiers and sailors, our widows and orphans, for Christ’s sake! God bless you all! The old pilgrim from Jerusalem.^[2]

Editorial Note:

Professor the Reverend William Hechler (1845-1931) [5881], campaigned against anti-Semitism and legitimised Theodor Hertzl, founder of modern Zionism. He was a close friend of the de László family until his death.

14/06/2006

[1] De László had invited Hechler to go with him to Athens as companion and secretary, see Duff Hart-Davis, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, Philip de László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 137.

[2] The Reverend Hechler was, as Hart-Davis, writes “an inveterate traveller and a passionate promoter of Zionism”, Hart-Davis, ibid., p. 71.