T. E. Lawrence
British officer, archaeologist, and writer known as Lawrence of Arabia.
His life ended on 19 May 1935 after a motorcycle crash in Dorset.[1] On 16 August 1888, Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadog, Carnarvonshire.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 16 August 1888
- Died
- 19 May 1935
- Birthplace
- Tremadog, Carnarvonshire, Wales
- Place of death
- Bovington Camp, Dorset, England
- Burial place
- St Nicholas' Church, Moreton, Dorset
- Nickname
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Birth name
- Thomas Edward Lawrence
- Education
- Jesus College, Oxford
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys from 1896 until 1907.[3] In his last summer vacation, Lawrence walked eleven hundred miles in Syria studying crusader castles.[4] He joined an archaeological expedition to Carchemish instead of pursuing a postgraduate degree.[4] He grew anxious that the British were playing a double game with the Arabs.[4]
After the war, political wrangling left most Arab dreams in tatters.[4] Lawrence later worked under Churchill for the Colonial Office, championing the Arab cause.[4] He joined the RAF under the name John Hume Ross in August 1922.[5] Lawrence described his final years in the Air Force as "the only really contented years of my life".[4]
What the cited sources add
A BBC profile notes that Lawrence's father was an Anglo-Irish baronet who left his wife and ran away with the governess.[4] The same source states that the Lawrence boys stood out in their navy and white stripy jerseys at school.[4] The BBC account reports that Lawrence was bafflingly determined to join the RAF after his fellowship at All Souls College.[4] He retired from the Air Force early in 1935.[4]
The accident happened when he turned to avoid two boys on bicycles, lost control, and was pitched over the handlebars, resulting in a skull fracture.[4]
References
- Wikipedia, "T. E. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mack 1976, p. 5; "Cycle wreck proves fatal to Lawrence of Arabia - UPI Archives", UPI; "T.E. Lawrence, To Arabia and back", BBC; "T.E. Lawrence, To Arabia and back", BBC; "Dorset", T. E. Lawrence Society (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "T. E. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aldington 1955, p. 25; Axelrod 2009, p. 237; Barnes 2005, p. 280; Mack 1976, p. 5 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "T. E. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mack 1976, p. 5; "Oxford", T. E. Lawrence Society; Mack 1976, p. 5 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "T.E. Lawrence, To Arabia and back", BBC. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "T. E. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dudney, "Lawrence of Airpower", Air Force Magazine, April 2012, p. 66–70; Mack 1976, p. 5; Biography of Johns, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article T. E. Lawrence (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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