The Strange Story of the Boxall Rubaiyat

 

Dimensions: 5 inches X 7.5 inches

The Book That Wasn't Just a Book

In August 1945, as the Pacific War drew to its conclusion, a young trainee nurse named Jessica Thomson gave a book to an Army Lieutenant named Alfred Boxall. The inscription she wrote was Verse 70 and was simply signed off: "JEstyn." On the surface, it appeared to be a romantic gesture, a poetry book as a keepsake from wartime acquaintances.

But this wasn't just any book, and the relationship was not a romantic one

What Jessica Thomson handed to Alf Boxall that day was a dual English/Malay edition, SHA'IR OMAR KHAYYAM, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published in 1944 by Australasian Publishing Co. and printed in Sydney by Holland & Stephenson. It was an unusual book; its timing and the backgrounds of the men who created it raise questions that have profound implications for the Somerton Man case: If this wasn't a romantic gift, then what was it? 

To understand what this book might have been, we need to examine who created it, when it was made, and why.

An Unusual Book

Most editions of the Rubaiyat published in the 1940s were English translations, typically FitzGerald's 1st edition, the famous Victorian rendering. The Boxall Rubaiyat was different. It contained parallel texts in English and Malay, the SHAIR OMAR KHAYYAM alongside the Rubaiyat, making it a language learning tool as much as a work of literature.

In 1944, Australia, this was an unusual publication. Malay was not a common language of study. There was no significant Malay-speaking immigrant community in Sydney. No university offered Malay language courses. Yet here was a dual-language poetry book, professionally printed, appearing in the middle of a war in which Malaya had been under Japanese occupation since early 1942.

That timing alone demands explanation.

The Publisher and Printer

Australasian Publishing Co. Pty Ltd commissioned the book, but the printing was done by Holland & Stephenson Co. Pty Ltd of Meagher Street, Chippendale, Sydney. And this is where the story becomes interesting.

Holland & Stephenson wasn't just any commercial printer. There is documentary evidence held in the Victorian Collections archives and the Australian War Memorial that confirms that in October 1939, they printed "Operations Military Training Pamphlet No. 23 Part III: Appreciations, Orders, Intercommunications & Movements"—a restricted military training document prepared by the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, British War Office.

The pamphlet bore two telling markings: "Not to be published" and "Not to be taken into front line trenches."

This wasn't a casual government printing contract. This was classified material, prepared by British military intelligence, entrusted to an Australian printer who clearly held security clearances to handle restricted documentation. Holland & Stephenson had a relationship with British military authorities that extended back to at least 1939, five years before the dual-language Rubaiyat appeared.

When the 1944 Rubaiyat needed printing, the work went to a printer with documented credentials for handling sensitive military materials. That wouldn't have been a coincidence; this was a deliberate choice. 

The Translator: A.W. Hamilton

The man who translated the Malay text was Arthur Wigram Hamilton, and his background is even more suggestive than the printer's.

Hamilton had spent decades in colonial Malaya as a police officer, rising to the position of  Police Commissioner in Johor. His work wasn't ordinary policing—it was intelligence work. He investigated Chinese secret societies, tracked organized criminal networks, and dealt with anti-colonial uprisings. In 1915, he was involved in suppressing the Tok Janggut rebellion in Kelantan state. His fluency in Malay earned him the sobriquet "Haji Hamilton." He published extensively on the Malay language, proverbs, and customs—knowledge gained not in academic study but through decades of on-the-ground intelligence work.

After retirement from the Malayan Police, Hamilton moved to Australia. And here's where the documented record becomes particularly interesting.

Hamilton's Campaign for Language Training

In June 1941, Arthur Hamilton wrote to the Australian Minister for External Affairs, Frederick Stewart, with a proposal: teach Australian servicemen the Malay language.

This wasn't idle academic interest. Hamilton understood something that Australian military planners were only beginning to grasp: that war with Japan would likely involve operations throughout Southeast Asia, including Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and surrounding territories where Malay was the lingua franca. Soldiers and intelligence operatives working in these regions would need language skills.

Here's a documented timeline of Hamilton's lobbying effort, it's revealing:

June 1941: Hamilton's formal proposal to the government
December 1941: Government acknowledgment (the same month Japan attacked)
February 1942: Army Department notified Eastern Command
August 1942: Commander-in-Chief referred Hamilton to the Army's Director of Education and Vocational Training
Late 1942: The Army is actively considering the proposal
1944: The dual-language Rubaiyat was published in Sydney
August 1944: RAAF headquarters in Melbourne issued Publication No. 513, "Elementary Malay for R.A.A.F. Personnel"

(Notes from Littlemore's documentary tell us that Jestyn first met Alf Boxall in 1944.)

Hamilton spent three years lobbying the Australian military establishment. By 1944, his efforts had succeeded, and the RAAF was issuing official Malay language training materials. The Australian military had accepted that language training for Southeast Asian operations was necessary.

The Question That Changes Everything

Here's the puzzle: if the Australian military was producing official Malay language training materials by August 1944, why did Hamilton also create a dual-language poetry book?

The RAAF's "Elementary Malay for R.A.A.F. Personnel" was a training manual, grammar lessons, vocabulary lists, and practical phrases. It was designed to stay in training schools and units, to be studied and left behind when servicemen deployed.

Hamilton's book was something different. It was portable, pocket-sized, and bound in cloth. It looked like personal reading material—a poetry book, nothing more. Yet it contained parallel English and Malay texts that provided vocabulary, sentence structure, and cultural context. It could be carried into the field without appearing to be military material. It could be studied privately without drawing attention. If questioned, it was just poetry—a romantic gift from a young woman, perhaps.

In the context of 1944, with major intelligence operations underway throughout Southeast Asia, the utility of such a book becomes clear. It was published to serve dual purposes that is something that official training manuals could not achieve.

The Operational Context: 1944

The year 1944 was the peak of Allied covert operations in Southeast Asia. Two major organizations were conducting intelligence, sabotage, and liaison operations in Japanese-occupied territories:

Force 136 was the British Special Operations Executive's Far Eastern branch, operating from India and Ceylon into Burma, Malaya, Siam, and French Indochina. By 1944, Force 136 had substantial resources and was preparing for the eventual Allied counter-invasion of Malaya (Operation Zipper). Between February and August 1945, they would parachute over 300 liaison personnel into Malaya, working with resistance groups and gathering intelligence.

Force 137 was the British SOE codename for Special Operations Australia (SOA), operating from Australian bases into the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, and Singapore. Established in April 1942, Force 137 conducted reconnaissance, sabotage, and intelligence operations throughout the same regions where Malay was the common language. Operations like Jaywick (September 1943) and Rimau (1944) saw Australian and British operatives infiltrating Singapore harbour to attack Japanese shipping.

Both forces needed personnel who could communicate with local populations, understand cultural context, and operate in regions where Malay was essential. And both were at peak operational tempo in 1944, when Hamilton's dual-language book appeared.

The timing was not coincidental.

The Network: Ex-Malayan Police Officers

Hamilton wasn't the only former Malayan police officer involved in these operations. Recent doctoral research by Rebecca Kenneison (University of Essex, 2016) on Force 136 operations in Malaya reveals that ex-police officers formed a significant portion of Force 136's leadership. These were men with language skills, regional knowledge, and intelligence experience, exactly what covert operations required.

Colonel John Davis led Operation Gustavus, the first major Force 136 infiltration into Malaya in 1943. A Malayan Police intelligence officer before the war and a fluent Cantonese speaker, Davis was later appointed Head of Malayan Force 136 agents.

Lieutenant Colonel Claude Fenner commanded Operation Humour in Negri Sembilan. A senior Malayan policeman before the war, he brought both language skills and understanding of local power structures.

Lieutenant Colonel Innes Tremlett headed the Malaya Country Section of Force 136 from September 1943. Another former policeman, he oversaw operations throughout the peninsula.

Lieutenant Colonel Ian Wylie took command of Operation Carpenter in June 1945. His police background provided the foundation for his intelligence work.

Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Broadhurst led Operation Galvanic. As a former Malayan policeman, his operational reports on the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army provide some of the most detailed intelligence assessments from the period.

These men shared more than just police backgrounds; they shared Hamilton's deep knowledge of Malaya, its languages, its peoples, and its complex political landscape. They formed a network of expertise that proved invaluable for Allied operations. Hamilton's lobbying for language training and his creation of practical language materials would have served this community directly.

And here you can clearly see the relationship between A.W.Hamilton, the poet translator, and A.W. Hamilton, a former Malay Police Intelligence man

The Australian Connection

Force 136 was predominantly British-led, Force 137 (Special Operations Australia) was the Australian equivalent organization, and Australians served in both. The administrative boundaries were sometimes fluid, personnel moved between organizations, training schools overlapped, and operations were coordinated.

Australians who served in Southeast Asian operations during 1943-1945 would have encountered the same linguistic challenges that Hamilton had identified. Whether serving with Force 136, Force 137, or Z Special Unit (the military arm of Special Operations Australia), operatives needed Malay language skills for missions in Singapore, Malaya, Borneo, and the Dutch East Indies.

There is a question of whether specific Australian personnel from particular units served in these operations; this remains an area for continued research. Service records, when available, could establish connections direct or otherwise between individuals like Boxall and the intelligence networks operating throughout the region.

The Book as an Intelligence Tool

Understanding the book requires understanding its context. In 1944:

• Allied intelligence operations in Southeast Asia were expanding rapidly
• Personnel needed Malay language skills for field operations
• Official training materials existed but were designed for classroom use
• Operatives needed portable, inconspicuous reference materials
• Books were ideal cover, they appeared innocent while providing practical utility

A dual-language poetry book solved multiple problems. It provided:

Language reference: Parallel texts showing vocabulary, sentence structure, and usage in a literary context

Cultural intelligence: Poetry that reflected regional literary traditions and cultural values

Operational security: An innocent-appearing personal item that wouldn't raise questions if discovered

Portability: Pocket-sized, durable, easily carried into field operations

Cover story: A romantic gift, a personal interest in poetry, a cultural curiosity—all plausible explanations for possession

Whether Hamilton created the book specifically for intelligence purposes or whether it found such use after publication remains an open question. But the convergence of factors, the printer's military credentials, Hamilton's intelligence background and lobbying efforts, the timing coinciding with peak operations, and the book's practical utility for field personnel, suggests this was more than a commercial publishing venture.

What the Evidence Tells Us

The documented facts establish several things clearly:

First: Holland & Stephenson held security clearances and printed classified British military materials from at least 1939.

Second: A.W. Hamilton was a former Malayan Police Commissioner with intelligence experience who spent 1941-1944 lobbying Australian military authorities to provide Malay language training for operations in Southeast Asia.

Third: By 1944, the Australian military had accepted Hamilton's proposal and was producing official Malay training materials.

Fourth: The 1944 dual-language Rubaiyat appeared during peak Allied intelligence operations (Force 136 and Force 137) in precisely the regions where such a book would have operational utility.

Fifth: Ex-Malayan police officers with Hamilton's background formed the leadership core of Force 136 operations in Malaya—men who would have needed and valued language reference materials.

What remains less certain, but worth careful consideration, is whether the book was specifically prepared for intelligence purposes. The convergence of a specialized printer, an expert translator, an unusual format, and perfect timing creates a pattern that needs more detailed examination.

The Implications

If the Boxall Rubaiyat was more than a commercial poetry book, if it was prepared as a language reference tool for intelligence operations, this transforms our understanding of what Jessica Thomson gave to Alf Boxall in July 1945. A dual-purpose book in many ways.

It wasn't a casual romantic gesture with a book picked at random from a shop shelf. It was the transfer of a specialized item, created by someone with deep intelligence connections, printed by a firm with military credentials, formatted for operational use, and given at the war's end when such materials might no longer be needed for their original purpose.

What Comes Next

The story of the Boxall Rubaiyat doesn't end with its creation and printing. Recently, with the help of a qualified colleague, we carried out a forensic analysis using advanced imaging technology, and it revealed something remarkable about this specific, Boxall, copy, it ia something that moves beyond questions of "could this have been used for intelligence purposes" to documented evidence of "this was prepared using known intelligence tradecraft techniques."

Those findings, confirmed through artificial intelligence analysis and comparative examination with an unmodified copy of the same 1944 edition, will be presented in forthcoming research. They demonstrate that the Boxall Rubaiyat was not simply a book that might have been useful for intelligence work; it was a special-purpose book, one that was specifically prepared using sophisticated concealment techniques consistent with documented Special Operations Executive methods.

But that's a story for another article.

For now, we can say this: In July 1945, a trainee nurse gave an Army Lieutenant a book. It wasn't just any book. It was a dual-language edition of Persian poetry, translated by a former intelligence officer, printed by a firm with military credentials, published during the height of covert operations in Southeast Asia, and created in a format ideally suited for operational use in the field.

The question isn't whether such a book could have served intelligence purposes. The question is whether it's plausible that it didn't.

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References

Kenneison, Rebecca. "The Special Operations Executive in Malaya: Impact and Repercussions, 1941-48." PhD thesis, University of Essex, 2016.

Victorian Collections Archive: Holland & Stephenson military printing records, 1939. "Operations Military Training Pamphlet No. 23 Part III."

Australian War Memorial Library: Operations Military Training Pamphlet documentation.

Mackie, Jamie. "Observing Change in Asia: Hamilton and the Origins of Indonesian Studies in Australia." Research article documenting Hamilton's lobbying of the Australian government for Malay language training, 1941-1944.

Silver, Lynette Ramsay. "SOA, M & Z Special Units, Operation Jaywick Myths." Research documentation on Special Operations Australia (Force 137), 2018.

Jstor article, Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, A W Hamilton

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Coming Soon: Detailed forensic analysis revealing intelligence concealment systems in the Boxall Rubaiyat, confirmed through advanced imaging technology and AI verification.