Lawrence, T. E.
Copyright 1995 by Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
Colonel T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a guerrilla leader
in the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, which expelled the Turks from western Arabia
and Syria during WORLD WAR I. Lawrence was an aloof, complex, versatile,
somewhat arrogant genius, and his exploits made him a popular, if enigmatic,
hero in the Western world.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born at Tremadoc, Wales, on Aug. 15, 1888. His
father, Sir Thomas Robert Chapman, was an Anglo-Irish landholder who left
his wife for his family's governess. Thomas was the second of five sons
produced by this union. Adopting the name Lawrence, the family settled in
Oxford, where Thomas eventually entered the university. Specializing in
archaeology, architecture, and history, he began learning Arabic when he
visited Syria and Palestine. After graduating in 1910, he worked as an archaeologist
in the Middle East until early 1914.
After the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence returned to Egypt in December
1914 as an intelligence officer. In October 1916 he accompanied a British
mission to aid HUSAYN IBN ALI of Mecca, who had launched the Arab Revolt
against Ottoman Turkish rule. Shortly thereafter, he joined Husayn's son
and army commander, Faisal (later King FAISAL I of Iraq), as an advisor.
Together, Faisal and Lawrence proceeded to push back the Ottoman forces
by raiding the Damascus-Medina railroad and overrunning Ottoman strongpoints.
In October 1918 the Arabs took Damascus, and Lawrence returned to Britain.
As a member of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference (1919),
Lawrence championed the cause of Arab independence, but without effect.
Following a research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, he became
a Middle Eastern advisor at the Colonial Office under Winston Churchill.
Although he succeeded in having Faisal appointed king of Iraq, Lawrence
had tired of fame and what he termed "the shallow grave of public duty."
Resigning from his post in 1922, he completed his famous account of his
Arabian experiences, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom (printed privately, 1926;
published, 1935). Under the assumed names of Ross and, later, Shaw, he spent
most of the remainder of his life as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force
and Tank Corps. He developed a passion for high-speed boats and motorcycles
and died on May 19, 1935, after a motorcycle accident. Lawrence also wrote
The Mint (1955), an account of his life in the air force.
Robert G. Landen
Bibliography: Aldington, Richard, Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Enquiry,
rev. ed. (1969); Garnett, David, ed., The Letters of T. E. Lawrence (1938);
Graves, Robert, Lawrence and the Arabian Adventure (1928) and Lawrence and
the Arabs, rev. ed. (1991); Knightley, Phillip, and Colin, Simpson, The
Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia (1969); Lawrence, Arnold W., ed., T.
E. Lawrence by his Friends (1937); Liddell Hart, Basil, Colonel Lawrence,
The Man Behind the Legend, rev. ed. (1964); Mack, John E., A Prince of Our
Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence (1975); Stewart, Desmond, T. E. Lawrence
(1977); Tabachnik, S. E., The T. E. Lawrence Puzzle (1984); Wilson, Jeremy,
Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of T. E. Lawrence (1990).
Copyright 1995 by Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.