Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward), 1888-1935

Thomas Edward Lawrence, archaeologist, soldier, and author, popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, was born at Tremadoc, North Wales, on August 15, 1888, the second of five sons. His father, Thomas Robert Chapman, and his mother, Sarah Maden, assumed the name of Lawrence. The family was raised in comfort by private means.

Lawrence learned to read at a very early age by observing his older brother being taught to read. At the age of four he read newspapers and books, at six he began the study of Latin, and at eight entered Oxford City High School, which he attended until 1907. He developed an interest in literature, archaeology, and architecture, with an emphasis on the Middle Ages. This led him, as a student at the modern history school of Jesus College, Oxford, which he attended from 1907 to 1910, to choose as his thesis title" The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture--to the End of the XIIth Century, "published in 1936 as Crusader Castles. In 1909 he had walked most of the nine hundred miles between Palestine and Syria to study castles.

He obtained 1st Class Honours in Modern History in 1910 and was awarded four years of funding for travel. Between 1911 and 1914 he went on excavating expeditions to various spots in the Middle East, where he lived among Arab people and gained an understanding of their culture, geography, and language, developing a liking for Arabic food and attire. Thus his reputation began to be established as an expert in Arab affairs.

After World War I broke out in 1914, Lawrence obtained a commission in the War Office and was sent as part of the British Intelligence Service to Egypt to work in the Arab Bureau. He became a liaison officer between the British and the Arabs and was advisor to Prince Faisal. The Arabs were in revolt against their Turkish rulers; in support of the Arab opposition, Lawrence organized Arab tribes using guerilla resistance to halt the Turkish advance, finally defeating the Turks and bringing the area south of Aqaba, except for Medina, under Arab-British control. He was subsequently promoted Major in 1917 and to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1918. Lawrence became a national hero in 1919 following a lecture and film by Lowell Thomas on" the uncrowned King of Arabia, "which attracted sellout crowds in London for six months.

After the war Lawrence worked to support independence for the Arab states at the Versailles Peace Conference, but was unsuccessful and became disillusioned. He served as adviser to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office on Middle Eastern affairs. It was at this time that he began to write about his adventures in the Middle East which were published in 1935 as Seven Pillars of Wisdom, issued first for subscription in 1926 and published in 1927 in an abridged version entitled Revolt in the Desert.

Lawrence resigned from the Colonial Office in July 1922 and, seeking a life of obscurity, entered the ranks of the Royal Air Force the following month under the assumed name John Hume Ross in order to avoid publicity. He was discharged the following January due to press disclosure of his identity. In 1923 he changed his name to T. E. Shaw which he legally adopted in 1927. From March 1923 to August 1925 he was a private in the Royal Tank Corps. He then rejoined the Royal Air Force where he remained as Aircraftsman Shaw until he retired from the service in February 1935 at the age of forty-six, and returned to live in his cottage, Clouds Hill, at Bovington, Dorset. He was involved in a motorcycle accident near Clouds Hill on May 13, 1935, when he swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles, and died on May 19, 1935.

Other publications by Lawrence include The Wilderness of Zin, an archaeological report on Sinai, co-authored with C. L. Woolley and published in 1915. Between 1916 and 1919 he secretly wrote articles in the Arab Bulletin, published as Secret Dispatches from Arabia in 1939. Lawrence wrote an Introduction to Travels in Arabia Deserta by Charles Doughty for a 1921 reprint edition by Jonathan Cape, the first book to be published by that firm. This was a book Lawrence greatly admired and which had a strong influence on his life while in Arabia. In 1932 he published a prose translation of Homer's The Odyssey. In The Mint (which he forbade to be published until 1950), he wrote about his early days in the Royal Air Force. It was published posthumously by Doubleday, Doran in 1936.