Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO, was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer. He was renowned for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The ... »
Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO, was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer. He was renowned for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title used for the 1962 film based on his wartime activities.
He was born out of wedlock in Tremadog, Wales in August 1888 to Sarah Junner, a Scottish governess, and Thomas Chapman, an Anglo-Irish nobleman from County Westmeath. Chapman left his wife and family in Ireland to cohabit with Junner; in 1914 he became Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet. Chapman and Junner called themselves Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, a name probably adopted from Sarah's likely father; Sarah’s mother had been employed as a servant for a Lawrence family when she became pregnant with Sarah. In 1889, the family moved to Kirkcudbright in Scotland where his brother William George was born, before moving to Dinard in France. In 1896, the Lawrences moved to Oxford, where Thomas attended the high school and then studied history at Jesus College from 1907 to 1910. Between 1910 and 1914, he worked as an archaeologist for the British Museum, chiefly at Carchemish in Ottoman Syria.
Soon after the outbreak of war, he volunteered for the British Army and was stationed in Egypt. In 1916, he was sent to Arabia on an intelligence mission and quickly became involved with the Arab Revolt as a liaison to the Arab forces, along with other British officers. He worked closely with Emir Faisal, a leader of the revolt, and he participated in and sometimes led military activities against the Ottoman armed forces, culminating in the capture of Damascus in October 1918.
After the war, Lawrence joined the Foreign Office, working with the British government and with Faisal. He was offered both the Victoria Cross and a knighthood but declined both. In 1922, he retreated from public life and spent the years until 1935 serving as an enlisted man, mostly in the Royal Air Force, with a brief stint in the Army. During this time, he published his best-known work Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an autobiographical account of his participation in the Arab Revolt. He also translated books into English and wrote The Mint, which was published posthumously and detailed his time in the Royal Air Force working as an ordinary aircraftman. He corresponded extensively and was friendly with well-known artists, writers, and politicians. For the Royal Air Force, he participated in the development of rescue motorboats.
Lawrence's public image resulted in part from the sensationalised reporting of the Arab revolt by American journalist Lowell Thomas, as well as from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. In 1935, Lawrence was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset.
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