Waugh (Evelyn) 3 Autograph Letters signed to Major Sir Ralph Dolignon Furse, 5pp., each 200 x 152mm., on paper headed Combe Florey House, Combe Florey, Nr. Taunton, 9^th, 22^nd and 25^th January, 1958, soliciting information for his forthcoming biography of Ronald Knox, discussing a possible memorial to Knox and Waugh's admiration for the generation that fought in First World War, annotations in red ink by the recipient, paperclip indents and faint rust marks, one word smudged, folds.

⁂ 3 unpublished letters from Waugh researching his biography of Ronald Knox and expressing his admiration for the Lost Generation.

"There is no one I can think of in my generation who could have inspired so much affection and left so complete a loss as the men of yours."

Waugh began researching his biography of Ronald Knox in 1957, after his subject's death in August of that year. The book would occupy him almost entirely for the next two years. In these letters Waugh is largely focusing on a single year of Knox's life; given that the information gleaned here occupies a very small section of the biography, it can be assumed that Waugh must have engaged in a vast correspondence in researching his subject. Major Furse lent Waugh his copy of the memoir of D.R. Brandt, a lodger along with Furse, Knox and others at the Old Parsonage. Brandt was killed in the First World War, the consideration of which prompts Waugh to express the sentiments of the above quote. It is followed however with a rather more caustic observation of post-war English society, typical of the older Waugh: "There is no doubt in my mind that the stock deteriorated and is deteriorating further".

Major Sir Ralph Furse (1887-1973) civil servant, instrumental in setting up setting up and professionalising the Colonial Service. Lived with Ronald Knox for a year at the Old Parsonage, St.Giles, while both were studying at Oxford. The papers of Major Sir Ralph Furse are held at the Bodleian.