Walter Francis Stirling

Walter Francis Stirling (1880-1958) was an army officer, born in Southsea on 31 January 1880. He was the only son and younger child of Captain Francis Stirling RN and his wife, Mary Caroline. He served at the relief of Ladysmith, in the action at Laing's Nek and the operations in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal in the Boer War. In 1906 he was seconded to the Egyptian Army and spent five years with an Arab battalion on the Eritrean and Abyssinian borders. In the First World War he served at Gallipoli in Egypt and the Palestinian campaign until he was appointed Chief Officer to Lawrence. In 1919 he was adviser to Emir Feisal and Deputy Political Oddicer in Cairo, then acting governor of Sinai and Governor of the Jaffa district in Palestine. In 1923 he became adviser to King Zog I. He collaborated with Alexander Korda on an film called Seven Pillars of Wisdom. In the Second World War he served in Damascus becoming the correspondent for The Times. He survived an assassination attempt in 1949.