Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was aBritish Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during theArab Revolt andSinai and Palestine campaign against theOttoman Empire in theFirst World War. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and Lawrence's ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame asLawrence of Arabia, a title used forthe 1962 film based on his wartime activities.
After the outbreak of war in 1914, Lawrence joined theBritish Army and was stationed at theArab Bureau, amilitary intelligence unit inEgypt. In 1916, he travelled toMesopotamia andArabia on intelligence missions and became involved with the Arab revolt against Ottoman rule. Lawrence was ultimately assigned to the British Military Mission in theHejaz as a liaison toEmir Faisal, a leader of the revolt. He participated in engagements with theOttoman military culminating in thecapture of Damascus in October 1918.
After the war's end, he joined theForeign Office, working with Faisal. In 1922, Lawrence retreated from public life and served as an enlisted man in the Army andRoyal Air Force (RAF) until 1935. He published theSeven Pillars of Wisdom in 1926, an autobiographical account of his participation in the Arab Revolt. Lawrence also translated books into English and wroteThe Mint, which detailed his service in the RAF. He corresponded extensively with prominent artists, writers, and politicians, and also participated in the development of rescue motorboats for the RAF. Lawrence's public image resulted in part from the sensationalised reporting of the Arab Revolt by American journalistLowell Thomas, as well as fromSeven Pillars of Wisdom. In 1935, Lawrence died at the age of 46 after being injured in a motorcycle crash inDorset.
Lawrence's birthplace, Gorphwysfa, inTremadog, CarnarvonshireThe Lawrence family lived at 2Polstead Road, Oxford from 1896 to 1921.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on 16 August 1888 inTremadog,Carnarvonshire,[5] in a house named Gorphwysfa, now known as Snowdon Lodge.[6][7] His Anglo-Irish fatherThomas Chapman had left his wife Edith, after he had a first son with Sarah Junner, who had been governess to his daughters.[8] Sarah was herself an illegitimate child, born inSunderland to Elizabeth Junner, a servant employed by a family named Lawrence. She was dismissed four months before Sarah was born, and identified Sarah's father as "John Junner, Shipwright journeyman".[9][10]
From 1894 to 1896, the family lived at Langley Lodge, set in private woods between the eastern borders of theNew Forest andSouthampton Water inHampshire.[14] At Langley Lodge (now demolished) young Lawrence had opportunities for outdoor activities and waterfront visits.[15]
In the summer of 1896, the family moved to 2Polstead Road inOxford, where they lived until 1921.[11] The wooden shed built in the garden for Lawrence to study when a schoolboy is still standing.[16] From 1896 until 1907, Lawrence attended theCity of Oxford High School for Boys,[14] where one of the fourhouses was later named "Lawrence" in his honour. The school closed in 1966.[17] Lawrence and one of his brothers became commissioned officers in theChurch Lads' Brigade atSt Aldate's Church.[18]
Lawrence claimed that he ran away from home around 1905, and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with theRoyal Garrison Artillery atSt Mawes Castle in Cornwall, from which he was bought out.[19] However, no evidence of this appears in army records.[20][21]
At the age of 15, Lawrence cycled with his schoolfriendCyril Beeson aroundBerkshire,Buckinghamshire andOxfordshire, visiting almost every village's parish church, studying their monuments and antiquities, and makingrubbings of theirmonumental brasses.[22] Lawrence and Beeson monitored building sites in Oxford and presented theAshmolean Museum with anything that they found.[22] The Ashmolean'sAnnual Report for 1906 said that the two teenage boys "by incessant watchfulness secured everything of antiquarian value which has been found."[22] In the summers of 1906 and 1907, Lawrence toured France by bicycle, sometimes with Beeson, collecting photographs, drawings, and measurements of medieval castles.[22] In August 1907, Lawrence wrote home: "the Chaignons and theLamballe people complimented me on my wonderful French: I have been asked twice since what part of France I came from".[23]
From 1907 to 1910, Lawrence read history atJesus College, Oxford.[24] In July and August 1908, he cycled 2,200 miles (3,500 km) solo through France to theMediterranean and back, researching French castles.[25][26] In the summer of 1909, he set out alone on a three-month walking tour ofcrusader castles inOttoman Syria, during which he travelled 1,000 miles (1,600 km) on foot.[27] While at Jesus College he was a keen member of theUniversity Officers' Training Corps (OTC).[28]
He graduated withFirst Class Honours after submitting a thesis titledThe Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture—to the End of the 12th Century,[29] partly based on his field research with Beeson in France,[22] and his solo research in France and theMiddle East.[30] Lawrence was fascinated by theMiddle Ages. His brotherArnold wrote in 1937 that "medieval researches" were a "dream way of escape from bourgeois England".[31]
In 1910, Lawrence was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist atCarchemish, in the expedition thatD. G. Hogarth was setting up on behalf of theBritish Museum.[32] Hogarth arranged a "SeniorDemyship", a form of scholarship, for Lawrence atMagdalen College, Oxford, to fund his work at £100 a year.[33] In December 1910, he sailed forBeirut, and went toByblos in Lebanon, where he studied Arabic.[34]
At Carchemish, Lawrence was involved in a high-tension relationship with a German-led team working nearby on theBaghdad Railway at Jerablus. While there was never open combat, there was regular conflict over access to land and treatment of the local workforce. Lawrence gained experience in Middle Eastern leadership practices and conflict resolution.[39]
In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of theNegev desert.[40] They were funded by thePalestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as theWilderness of Zin,[41] and they made an archaeological survey of the Negev desert along the way. The Negev was strategically important because anOttoman army attacking Egypt would have to cross it. Woolley and Lawrence published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings,[42] but a more important result was their updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. Lawrence also visitedAqaba and Shobek, not far fromPetra.[43]
The situation was complex in 1915. There was a growing Arab nationalist movement within the Arabic-speaking Ottoman territories, including many Arabs serving in the Ottoman armed forces.[47] They were in contact withSharif Hussein,Emir of Mecca,[48] who was negotiating with the British and offering to lead an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. In exchange, he wanted a British guarantee of an independent Arab state including theHejaz, Syria, andMesopotamia.[49]
Such an uprising would have been helpful to Britain in its war against the Ottomans, lessening the threat against theSuez Canal.[50] However, there was resistance from French diplomats who insisted that Syria's future was as a French colony, not an independent Arab state.[51] There were also strong objections from theGovernment of India, which was nominally part of the British government but acted independently.[52] Its vision was of Mesopotamia under British control serving as a granary for India; furthermore, it wanted to hold on to its Arabian outpost inAden.[53]
At the Arab Bureau, Lawrence supervised the preparation of maps,[54] produced a daily bulletin for the British generals operating in the theatre,[55] and interviewed prisoners.[54] He was an advocate of a British landing atAlexandretta, nowİskenderun in Turkey, that never came to pass.[56] He was also a consistent advocate of an independent Arab Syria.[57]
The situation came to a crisis in October 1915, as Sharif Hussein demanded an immediate commitment from Britain, with the threat that he would otherwise throw his weight behind the Ottomans.[58] This would create a crediblePan-Islamic message that could have been dangerous for Britain, which was in severe difficulties in theGallipoli Campaign.[59] The British replied with aletter from High Commissioner McMahon that was generally agreeable while reserving commitments concerning the Mediterranean coastline andHoly Land.[60]
In the spring of 1916, Lawrence was dispatched to Mesopotamia to assist in relieving theSiege of Kut by some combination of starting an Arab uprising and bribing Ottoman officials. This mission produced no useful result.[61] Meanwhile, theSykes–Picot Agreement was being negotiated in London, without the knowledge of British officials in Cairo, which awarded a large proportion of Syria to France. It implied that the Arabs would have to conquer Syria's four great cities if they were to have any sort of state there: Damascus,Homs,Hama, andAleppo.[62] It is unclear at what point Lawrence became aware of the treaty's contents.[63]
The Arab Revolt began in June 1916, but it stalled after a few successes, with a real risk that the Ottoman forces would advance along the coast of the Red Sea and recapture Mecca.[64] On 16 October 1916, Lawrence was sent to the Hejaz on an intelligence-gathering mission led byRonald Storrs.[65] He interviewed Sharif Hussein's sonsAli,Abdullah, andFaisal,[66] and concluded that Faisal was the best candidate to lead the Revolt.[67]
In November,S. F. Newcombe was assigned to lead a permanent British liaison to Faisal's staff.[68] Newcombe had not yet arrived in the area and the matter was of some urgency, so Lawrence was sent in his place.[69] In late December 1916, Faisal and Lawrence worked out a plan for repositioning the Arab forces to put the railway from Syria under threat while preventing the Ottoman forces around Medina from threatening Arab positions.[70] Newcombe arrived while Lawrence was preparing to leave Arabia, but Faisal intervened urgently, asking that Lawrence's assignment become permanent.[71]
Lawrence's most important contributions to the Arab Revolt were in the area of strategy and liaison with British Armed Forces, but he also participated personally in several military engagements between January 1917 and September 1918. These included attacks on Ottoman communications: the railways at Aba el Naam,[72][73] andMudawara;[74] and the destruction of an railway engine;[75] the bridges atRas Baalbek;[76] and atYarmuk, during which attack he suffered several wounds in the explosion and subsequent combat;[77] and that at Aqaba,[78] and the bridge which connected Amman and Dera'a.[79] There were also assaults on Ottoman garrisons: in theHejaz;[80] at Tell Shahm using British armoured cars;[81] and on retreating Ottomans and Germans near the village ofTafas, where the Ottoman forcesmassacred the villagers and the Arabs retaliated by killing their prisoners, with Lawrence's encouragement.[82] In June 1917 Lawrence made a 300-mile (480 km) journey north towards Aqaba, visitingRas Baalbek, the outskirts of Damascus, andAzraq, Jordan.[83] He met with Arab nationalists, counselling them to avoid revolt until the arrival of Faisal's forces, and he attacked a bridge to create the impression of guerrilla activity.[84] His findings were regarded by the British as extremely valuable and there was serious consideration of awarding him aVictoria Cross; in the end, he was invested as a Companion of theOrder of the Bath and promoted to major.[1][85]
He also saw action in larger-scale engagements: the defeat of the Ottoman forces at Aba el Lissan as part of theBattle of Aqaba;[86] and in January 1918, theBattle of Tafilah,[87] in a region southeast of theDead Sea, where Arab regulars were engaged under the command ofJafar Pasha al-Askari.[88] Tafilah began as a defensive engagement that turned into an offensive rout,[89] and was described in the official history of the war as a "brilliant feat of arms".[88] Lawrence was awarded theDistinguished Service Order for his leadership and was promoted to lieutenant colonel.[88] Lawrence continued to travel regularly between British headquarters and Faisal, co-ordinating military action[90] but by early 1918 he had been replaced as Faisal's chief British liaison by Lieutenant Colonel Pierce Charles Joyce, and his efforts were devoted chiefly to raiding and intelligence-gathering.[91]
The chief elements of the Arab strategy that Faisal and Lawrence developed were to avoid capturingMedina, and to extend northward through Maan and Dera'a to Damascus and beyond. Faisal wanted to lead regular attacks against the Ottomans, but Lawrence persuaded him to drop that tactic.[92] Lawrence wrote about theBedouin as a fighting force:
The value of the tribes is defensive only and their real sphere is guerilla warfare. They are intelligent, and very lively, almost reckless, but too individualistic to endure commands, or fight in line, or to help each other. It would, I think, be impossible to make an organized force out of them.… The Hejaz war is one of dervishes against regular forces—and we are on the side of the dervishes. Our text-books do not apply to its conditions at all.[92]
Medina was an attractive target for the revolt as Islam's second-holiest site, and because its Ottoman garrison was weakened by disease and isolation.[93] It became clear that it was advantageous to leave it there rather than try to capture it, while attacking theHejaz railway south from Damascus without permanently destroying it.[94] This prevented the Ottomans from making effective use of their troops at Medina, and forced them to dedicate many resources to defending and repairing the railway line.[94][95][96] However,Richard Aldington strongly disagrees with the value of the strategy.[97]
It is not known when Lawrence learned the details of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, nor if or when he briefed Faisal on what he knew, however, there is good reason to think that both these things happened, and earlier rather than later.[98][99] In particular, the Arab strategy of northward extension makes perfect sense given the Sykes–Picot language that spoke of an independent Arab entity in Syria, which would be granted only if the Arabs liberated the territory themselves.[100] The French and some of their British Liaison officers were specifically uncomfortable about the northward movement, as it would weaken French colonial claims.[101][102]
In 1917, Lawrence proposed a joint action with the Arabirregulars and forces includingAuda Abu Tayi, who had previously been in the employ of the Ottomans, against the strategically located but lightly defended town of Aqaba on the Red Sea.[103][104][105] Aqaba could have been attacked from the sea but, assuming it were captured, the narrow defiles leading inland through the mountains were strongly defended and would have been very difficult to assault.[106] The expedition was led by Sharif Nasir of Medina.[107]
Lawrence avoided informing his British superiors about the details of the planned inland attack, due to concern that it would be blocked as contrary to French interests.[108] The expedition departed fromWejh on 9 May,[109] and Aqaba fell to the Arab forces on 6 July, after a surprise overland attack that took the Turkish defences from behind. After Aqaba,General Sir Edmund Allenby, the new commander-in-chief of theEgyptian Expeditionary Force, agreed to Lawrence's strategy for the revolt.[110] Lawrence now held a powerful position as an adviser to Faisal and a person who had Allenby's confidence, as Allenby acknowledged after the war:
I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign. He was the mainspring of the Arab movement and knew their language, their manners and their mentality.[111]
Lawrence describes an episode on 20 November 1917 while reconnoitringDera'a in disguise, when he was captured by the Ottoman military, beaten, and sexually assaulted by the localbey and his guardsmen,[112] though he does not specify the nature of the sexual contact. Some scholars have stated that he exaggerated the severity of the injuries that he suffered,[113] or alleged that the episode never happened.[114][115] There is no independent testimony, but the multiple consistent reports and the absence of evidence for outright invention in Lawrence's works make the account believable to some of his biographers.[116] Malcolm Brown,John E. Mack, andJeremy Wilson have argued that this episode had strong psychological effects on Lawrence, which may explain some of his unconventional behaviour in later life.[117][118][119] Lawrence ended his account of the episode inSeven Pillars of Wisdom with the statement: "In Dera'a that night the citadel of my integrity had been irrevocably lost."[120]
The son of the Governor resident in Dera'a at the time has been quoted as saying the narrative must be false, because Lawrence describes the Bey's hair, while in fact his father was bald.[121] In fact, Lawrence describes (in the 1922 text) the Bey's head as shaven, with stubble standing up. There is also uncertainty about the identity of the individual that Lawrence refers to as "the Bey".[122]
Lawrence was involved in the build-up to the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war, but he was not present at the city's formal surrender. He arrived several hours after the city had fallen, entering Damascus around 9 am on 1 October 1918; the first to arrive was the10th Light Horse Regiment led by Major A. C. N. "Harry" Olden, who accepted the formal surrender of the city from acting Governor Emir Said.[123][124] Lawrence was instrumental in establishing a provisional Arab government under Faisal in newly liberated Damascus, which he had envisioned as the capital of an Arab state.[125] Faisal's rule as king, however, came to an abrupt end in 1920, after thebattle of Maysaloun when the French Forces ofGeneral Henri Gouraud entered Damascus under the command of GeneralMariano Goybet, destroying Lawrence's dream of an independent Arabia.[126]
During the closing years of the war, Lawrence sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, but his success was mixed.[127] The secret Sykes–Picot Agreement between France and Britain contradicted the promises of independence that he had made to the Arabs and frustrated his work.[128]
Lawrence returned to the United Kingdom as a full colonel.[129] Immediately after the war, he worked for theForeign Office, attending theParis Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation. On 17 May 1919, aHandley Page Type O/400 taking Lawrence to Egypt crashed at the airport ofRoma-Centocelle. The pilot and co-pilot were killed; Lawrence survived with a broken shoulder blade and two broken ribs.[130] During his brief hospitalisation, he was visited by KingVictor Emmanuel III of Italy.[131]
A map presented by Lawrence to theEastern Committee of the War Cabinet in November 1918.[132]
In 1918,Lowell Thomas went to Jerusalem where he met Lawrence, "whose enigmatic figure in Arab uniform fired his imagination", in the words of author Rex Hall.[133] Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot a great deal of film and many photographs involving Lawrence. Thomas produced a stage presentation entitledWith Allenby in Palestine which included a lecture, dancing, and music[134] and depicted the Middle East as exotic, mysterious, sensuous, and violent.[134] The show premiered in New York in March 1919.[135] He was invited to take his show to England, and he agreed to do so provided that he was personally invited by theKing and provided the use of eitherDrury Lane orCovent Garden.[136] He opened at Covent Garden on 14 August 1919 and continued for hundreds of lectures, "attended by the highest in the land".[133][137]
Initially, Lawrence played only a supporting role in the show, as the main focus was on Allenby's campaigns; but then Thomas realised that it was the photos of Lawrence dressed as a Bedouin which had captured the public's imagination, so he had Lawrence photographed again in London in Arab dress.[134] With the new photos, Thomas re-launched his show under the new titleWith Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia in early 1920, which proved to be extremely popular.[134] The new title elevated Lawrence from a supporting role to a co-star of the Near Eastern campaign and reflected a changed emphasis. Thomas' shows made the previously obscure Lawrence into a household name.[134] Lawrence worked with Thomas on the creation of the presentation, answering many questions and posing for many photographs.[138] After its success, however, he expressed regret about having been featured in it.[139]
Lawrence served as an advisor toWinston Churchill at theColonial Office for just over a year starting in February 1920.[140] He hated bureaucratic work, writing on 21 May 1921 toRobert Graves: "I wish I hadn't gone out there: the Arabs are like a page I have turned over; and sequels are rotten things. I'm locked up here: office every day and much of it".[141] He travelled to the Middle East on multiple occasions during this period, at one time holding the title of "chief political officer forTrans-Jordania".[142] He campaigned for his and Churchill's vision of the Middle East, publishing pieces in multiple newspapers, includingThe Times,The Observer,The Daily Mail, andThe Daily Express.[143]
Lawrence had a sinister reputation in France during his lifetime and even today as an implacable "enemy of France", the man who was constantly stirring up the Syrians to rebel againstFrench rule throughout the 1920s.[144] However, French historian Maurice Larès wrote that the real reason for France's problems in Syria was that the Syrians did not want to be ruled by France, and the French needed a scapegoat to blame for their difficulties in ruling the country.[145] Larès wrote that Lawrence is usually pictured in France as aFrancophobe, but he was really aFrancophile.[146]
Having seen and admired the effective use of air power during the war,[147] Lawrence enlisted in theRoyal Air Force as an aircraftman, under the nameJohn Hume Ross in August 1922.[148] At the RAF recruiting centre inCovent Garden, London, he was interviewed by recruiting officer Flying OfficerW. E. Johns, later known as the author of theBiggles series of novels.[149] Johns rejected Lawrence's application, as he suspected that "Ross" was a false name. Lawrence admitted that this was so and that he had provided false documents. He left, but returned some time later with an RAF messenger who carried a written order that Johns must accept Lawrence.[150]
However, Lawrence was forced out of the RAF in February 1923 after his identity was exposed. He changed his name toT. E. Shaw (apparently as a consequence of his friendship withGeorge Bernard Shaw andCharlotte Shaw[151]) and joined theRoyal Tank Corps later that year.[152] He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally readmitted him in August 1925.[153] A fresh burst of publicity after the publication ofRevolt in the Desert resulted in his assignment to bases atKarachi andMiramshah inBritish India (now Pakistan) in late 1926,[154][155] where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time, he was forced to return to Britain after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.[156]
He purchased several small plots of land inChingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. The hut was removed in 1930 when Chingford Urban District Council acquired the land; it was given to theCity of London Corporation which re-erected it in the grounds of The Warren,Loughton. Lawrence's tenure of the Chingford land has now been commemorated by a plaque fixed on theRoyal Observatory, Greenwich sighting obelisk onPole Hill.[157]
Lawrence continued serving at several RAF bases, notably atRAF Mount Batten near Plymouth,RAF Calshot near Southampton,[158] andRAF Bridlington in theEast Riding of Yorkshire.[159] In the inter-war period, the RAF'sMarine Craft Section began to commission air-sea rescue launches capable of higher speeds and greater capacity. The arrival of high-speed craft into the MCS was driven in part by Lawrence. He had previously witnessed a seaplane crew drowning when theseaplane tender sent to their rescue was too slow in arriving. He worked withHubert Scott-Paine, the founder of theBritish Power Boat Company (BPBC), to introduce the 37.5-foot (11.4 m) long ST 200 Seaplane Tender Mk1 into service. These boats had a range of 140 miles (230 km) when cruising at 24 knots and could achieve a top speed of 29 knots.[160][161]
He professed happiness, and he left the service with considerable regret at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.[162]
In a tribute to Lawrence in 1936 Churchill wrote:
He saw as clearly as anyone the vision of airpower and all that it would mean in traffic and war. ... He felt that in living the life of a private in the Royal Air Force he would dignify that honorable calling and help to attract all that is keenest in our youthful manhood to the sphere where it is most urgently needed. For this service and example, ... we owe him a separate debt. It was in itself a princely gift.[147]
On 13 May 1935, Lawrence was fatally injured in an accident on his SS100 inDorset close to his cottageClouds Hill, nearBovington Camp, just two months after leaving military service.[169][170] A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars.[171] He died six days later on 19 May 1935, aged 46.[171] The location of the crash is marked by a small memorial at the roadside.[172] One of the doctors attending him was neurosurgeonHugh Cairns, who consequently began a long study of the loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use ofcrash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.[173]
TheMoreton estate borders Bovington Camp, and Lawrence boughtClouds Hill from his cousins, the Frampton family. He had been a frequent visitor to their home, Oakers Wood House, and had corresponded with Louisa Frampton for years. Lawrence's mother arranged with the Framptons to have his body buried in their family plot in the separate burial ground ofSt Nicholas' Church, Moreton.[174][175] The coffin was transported on the Frampton estate's bier. Mourners included Winston Churchill,E. M. Forster,Lady Astor, and Lawrence's youngest brother, Arnold.[176] Churchill described him thus: "Lawrence was one of those beings whose pace of life was faster and more intense than what is normal."[177][178]
The inquest into Lawrence's death was conducted hurriedly and there was conflicting testimony, particularly in the report of a "black car" which may or may not have been present at the scene of the accident, and the behaviour of the bicycling boys.[179] Some have speculated that Lawrence was assassinated but, owing to a lack of supporting evidence, it is generally accepted that his death was an accident.[180]
Lawrence was a prolific writer throughout his life. A large portion of his writing wasepistolary; he often sent several letters a day, and a number of collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, includingGeorge Bernard Shaw,Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves,Noël Coward, E. M. Forster,Siegfried Sassoon,John Buchan,Augustus John, andHenry Williamson.[181] He metJoseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. Lawrence sent many letters to Shaw's wife, Charlotte.[182]
Lawrence was a competent speaker of French and Arabic, and reader of Latin andAncient Greek.[183] Lawrence published three major texts in his lifetime. The most significant was his account of the Arab Revolt inSeven Pillars of Wisdom.[184]Homer'sOdyssey andThe Forest Giant were translations, the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction.[185] He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.[186]
Lawrence's major work isSeven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919, he was elected to a seven-year research fellowship atAll Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book.[187] Certain parts of the book also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. He rewroteSeven Pillars of Wisdom three times, once "blind" after he lost the manuscript.[188]
There are many alleged "embellishments" inSeven Pillars, though some allegations have been disproved with time, most definitively in Jeremy Wilson'sauthorised biography.[189] However, Lawrence's own notebooks refute his claim to have crossed theSinai Peninsula from Aqaba to the Suez Canal in just 49 hours without any sleep. In reality, this famous camel ride lasted for more than 70 hours and was interrupted by two long breaks for sleeping, which Lawrence omitted when he wrote his book.[190]
In the preface, Lawrence acknowledged George Bernard Shaw's help in editing the book. The first edition was published in 1926 as a high-priced private subscription edition, printed in London byHerbert John Hodgson and Roy Manning Pike, with illustrations byEric Kennington, Augustus John,Paul Nash,Blair Hughes-Stanton,[191] and Hughes-Stanton's wifeGertrude Hermes. Lawrence was afraid that the public would think that he would make a substantial income from the book, and he stated that it was written as a result of his war service. He vowed not to take any money from it, and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one third of the production costs,[192] leaving him in substantial debt.[193] He always took care not to give the impression that he had profited economically from the Arab revolt. In a 'deleted chapter' of theSeven Pillars which reappeared in 2022, Lawrence wrote:
For my work on the Arab front I had determined to accept nothing. The cabinet raised the Arabs to fight for us by definite promises of self-government afterwards. Arabs believe in persons, not in institutions. They saw in me a free agent of the British government, and demanded from me an endorsement of its written promises. So I had to join the conspiracy, and, for what my word was worth, assured the men of their reward. In our two years' partnership under fire they grew accustomed to believing me and to think my government, like myself, sincere. In this hope they performed some fine things but, of course, instead of being proud of what we did together, I was continually and bitterly ashamed.[194]
As a specialist in the Middle East,Fred Halliday praised Lawrence'sSeven Pillars of Wisdom as a "fine work of prose" but described its relevance to the study of Arab history and society as "almost worthless."[195]
Stanford historianPriya Satia observes thatSeven Pillars presents the Middle East with a broadly positive, yet 'Orientalist' perspective. Lawrence's romanticised and vivid depictions transformed him into a sought-after symbol of Britain's leadership and goodwill in the Middle East. This occurred during a time when Britain's global influence was waning, and the nation was grappling with the aftermath of the First World War. Therefore, his "...books evoked a vision of redemption from the troubled spirit of the age" and offered a "reassurance of continuity" with Britain's triumphant history.[196]
Revolt in the Desert was an abridged version ofSeven Pillars that he began in 1926 and that was published in March 1927 in both limited and trade editions.[197] He undertook a needed but reluctant publicity exercise, which resulted in a best-seller. Again he vowed not to take any fees from the publication, partly to appease the subscribers toSeven Pillars who had paid dearly for their editions. By the fourth reprint in 1927, the debt fromSeven Pillars was paid off.[198] As Lawrence left for military service in India at the end of 1926, he set up the "Seven Pillars Trust" with his friend D. G. Hogarth as a trustee, in which he made over the copyright and any surplus income ofRevolt in the Desert. He later told Hogarth that he had "made the Trust final, to save myself the temptation of reviewing it, ifRevolt turned out a best seller."[199]
The resultant trust paid off the debt, and Lawrence then invoked a clause in his publishing contract to halt publication of the abridgement in the United Kingdom. However, he allowed both American editions and translations, which resulted in a substantial flow of income.[198] The trust paid income either into an educational fund for children of RAF officers who lost their lives or were invalided as a result of service, or more substantially into theRAF Benevolent Fund.[200]
Lawrence leftThe Mint unpublished,[201] a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force (RAF). For this, he worked from a notebook that he kept while enlisted, writing of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself.[202] The book is stylistically different fromSeven Pillars of Wisdom, using sparse prose as opposed to the complicated syntax found inSeven Pillars. It was published posthumously, edited by his brotherArnold.[203]
After Lawrence's death, Arnold Lawrence inherited Lawrence's estate and his copyrights as the sole beneficiary. To pay the inheritance tax, he sold the US copyright ofSeven Pillars of Wisdom (subscribers' text) outright toDoubleday Doran in 1935.[204] Doubleday controlled publication rights of this version of the text ofSeven Pillars of Wisdom in the US until the copyright expired at the end of 2022 (publication plus 95 years). In 1936, A. W. Lawrence split the remaining assets of the estate, giving Clouds Hill and many copies of less substantial or historical letters to theNational Trust, and then set up two trusts to control interests in his brother's residual copyrights.[205] He assigned the copyright inSeven Pillars of Wisdom to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust,[206] and it was given its first general publication as a result.[207] He assigned the copyright inThe Mint and all Lawrence's letters to the Letters and Symposium Trust,[204] which he edited and published in the bookT. E. Lawrence by his Friends in 1937. The work contained recollections and reminiscences by a large number of Lawrence's friends and colleagues.[204]
A substantial amount of income went directly to the RAF Benevolent Fund and to archaeological, environmental, and academic projects.[208] The two trusts were amalgamated in 1986, and the unified trust acquired all the remaining rights to Lawrence's works that it had not owned on the death of A. W. Lawrence in 1991, plus rights to all of A. W. Lawrence's works.[205] The UK copyrights on Lawrence's works published in his lifetime and within 20 years of his death expired on 1 January 2006. Works published more than 20 years after his death were protected for 50 years from publication or to 1 January 2040, whichever is earlier.[209]
Lawrence's biographers have discussed his sexuality at considerable length and this discussion has spilled into the popular press.[210] There is no direct evidence for consensual sexual intimacy between Lawrence and any person. His friends have expressed the opinion that he wasasexual,[211][212] and Lawrence himself specifically denied any personal experience of sex in multiple private letters.[213] There were suggestions that Lawrence had been intimate with his companion Selim Ahmed, "Dahoum", who worked with him at a pre-war archaeological dig in Carchemish,[214] and fellow serviceman R. A. M. Guy,[215] but his biographers and contemporaries found them unconvincing.[214][215][216]
The dedication to his bookSeven Pillars is a poem titled "To S.A." which opens:[217]
I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars To earn you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house, that your eyes might be shining for me When we came.
Selim "Dahoum" Ahmed
Lawrence was never specific about the identity of "S.A." Many theories argue in favour of individual men or women, and the Arab nation as a whole.[218] The most popular theory is that S.A. represents (at least in part) Dahoum, who apparently died oftyphus before 1918.[219][220][221][222][223]
Lawrence lived in a period of strong official opposition to homosexuality, but his writing on the subject was tolerant. He wrote to Charlotte Shaw, "I've seen lots of man-and-man loves: very lovely and fortunate some of them were."[224] He refers to "the openness and honesty of perfect love" on one occasion inSeven Pillars, when discussing relationships between young male fighters in the war.[225] The passage in the front matter is referred to with the single-word tag "Sex".[226]
He wrote in Chapter 1 ofSeven Pillars:
In horror of such sordid commerce [diseased female prostitutes] our youths began indifferently to slake one another's few needs in their own clean bodies — a cold convenience that, by comparison, seemed sexless and even pure. Later, some began to justify this sterile process, and swore that friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace, found there hidden in the darkness a sensual co-efficient of the mental passion which was welding our souls and spirits in one flaming effort [to secure Arab independence]. Several, thirsting to punish appetites they could not wholly prevent, took a savage pride in degrading the body, and offered themselves fiercely in any habit which promised physical pain or filth.[227]
There is considerable evidence that Lawrence was amasochist. He wrote in his description of the Dera'a beating that "a delicious warmth, probably sexual, was swelling through me," and he also included a detailed description of the guards' whip in a style typical of masochists' writing.[228] In later life, Lawrence arranged to pay a military colleague to administer beatings to him,[229] and to be subjected to severe formal tests of fitness and stamina.[212]
John Bruce first wrote on this topic, including some other statements that were not credible, but Lawrence's biographers regard the beatings as established fact.[230] French novelistAndré Malraux admired Lawrence but wrote that he had a "taste for self-humiliation, now by discipline and now by veneration; a horror of respectability; a disgust for possessions".[231] BiographerLawrence James wrote that the evidence suggested a "strong homosexual masochism", noting that he never sought punishment from women.[232]
PsychiatristJohn E. Mack sees a possible connection between Lawrence's masochism and the childhood beatings that he had received from his mother[233] for routine misbehaviours.[234] His brother Arnold thought that the beatings had been given for the purpose of breaking his brother's will.[234]Angus Calder suggested in 1997 that Lawrence's apparent masochism and self-loathing might have stemmed from asense of guilt over losing his brothers Frank and Will on the Western Front, along with many other school friends, while he survived.[235]
In 1955Richard Aldington publishedLawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Enquiry, a sustained attack on Lawrence's character, writing, accomplishments, and veracity. Aldington’scharacter assassination of Lawrence has subsequently been substantively repudiated or otherwise balanced-out by later works of scholarship and biography.[236] Inconsistencies or errors in fact that appear in Lawrence’s later versions of the text may be explained, in many cases, by the loss of an original draft manuscript at a railway station—thus necessitating a rewrite from memory, whereas the first version of the text was written from contemporary notes.[237]
Aldington alleged that Lawrence lied and exaggerated continuously ("Seven Pillars of Wisdom is rather a work of quasi-fiction than history",[238] "It was seldom that he reported any fact or episode involving himself without embellishing them and indeed in some cases entirely inventing them," he claims),[239] He further claimed that Lawrence promoted a misguided policy in the Middle East; that his strategy of containing but not capturing Medina was incorrect, and thatSeven Pillars of Wisdom was a bad book with few redeeming features.[240]
Aldington argued that the French colonial administration of Syria (resisted by Lawrence) benefited that country[241] and that Arabia's peoples were "far enough advanced for some government though not for complete self-government."[242] For Aldington—a Francophile—French colonialism was unassailable. He railed against Lawrence's "Francophobia, a hatred and an envy so irrational, so irresponsible and so unscrupulous that it is fair to say his attitude towards Syria was determined more by hatred of France than by devotion to the 'Arabs' – a convenient propaganda word which grouped many disharmonious and even mutually hostile tribes and peoples."[243]
Aldington wrote that Lawrence embellished many stories and invented others, and in particular that his claims involving numbers were inflated. For example, Lawrence claims to have read 50,000 books in the Oxford Union library.[244] He claims to have blown up 79 bridges, when in fact 11 of these 79 bridges were detonated byHaganah, who reinforced theHashemites on this occasion.[245][236] He claims to have had a price of £50,000 on his head, while the actually bounty was £10,000-20,000 pounds—though it should be considered that in Turkish notes this bounty would have been something like three to five times that much and that the discrepancy or smudging in Lawrence's approximation of the bounty is a result of the theft of his original manuscript, obligating him to rewrite the book from memory five years after the events in question under conditions where many of the relevant contemporary documents were largely unavailable as reference.[246][236][237] Lawrence says that he suffered 60 or more injuries.[247] Aldington's dismissal of this claim discounts the beatings, torture, and sexual abuse Lawrence received in Ottoman captivity (as if these did not count as injuries).[247][236]
Prior to the publication of Aldington's book, its contents became known in London's literary community. A group Aldington and some subsequent authors referred to as "The Lawrence Bureau",[248] led byB. H. Liddell Hart,[249] tried energetically, starting in 1954, to have the book suppressed.[250] When that effort failed, Hart prepared and distributed hundreds of copies ofAldington's 'Lawrence': His Charges – and Treatment of the Evidence, a seven-page single-spaced document.[251] This worked: Aldington's book received many extremely negative and even abusive reviews, with strong evidence that some reviewers had read Liddell's rebuttal but not Aldington's book.[252]
InRichard Aldington and Lawrence of Arabia: A Cautionary Tale, Fred D. Crawford writes
Much that shocked in 1955 is now standard knowledge – that TEL was illegitimate, that this profoundly troubled him, that he frequently resented his mother's dominance, that such reminiscences asT.E. Lawrence by His Friends are not reliable, that TEL's leg-pulling and other adolescent traits could be offensive, that TEL took liberties with the truth in his official reports andSeven Pillars, that the significance of his exploits during the Arab Revolt was more political than military, that he contributed to his own myth, that when he vetted the books by Graves and Liddell Hart he let remain much that he knew was untrue, and that his feelings about publicity were ambiguous.[253]
This has not prevented most post-Aldington biographers (including Fred D. Crawford, who studied Aldington's claims intensely)[254] from expressing strong admiration for Lawrence's military, political, and writing achievements.[255][256] Despite the generally deprecatory tenor of his "biographical inquiry", Aldington himself was not without words of praise for Lawrence; in outlining his goal of "clearing the ground a little and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way of knowledge", he says that his doing so is "not to deny that Lawrence was a man of peculiar abilities", and calls him an "extraordinary man".[257]
Interest in Lawrence as a source of artistic inspiration for stage and screen began in his lifetime. Lowell Thomas' films and lectures,With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia, were seen by over 3 million people in the early 1920s and made Lawrence an international celebrity.[275]George Bernard Shaw, a friend, drew on Lawrence's character for the role of Private Napoleon Meek in his play of 1931,Too True to Be Good. Lawrence attended a performance of the play's originalWorcestershire run and reportedly signed autographs for members of the audience.[276] The producerAlexander Korda bought the film rights toThe Seven Pillars in the mid-1930s, engagedLeslie Howard to play Lawrence andWinston Churchill as a consultant, and the production was in development at the time of Lawrence's death, although it was never ultimately made.[277][278] The 1960s saw a revival of interest, beginning withTerence Rattigan's playRoss, which premiered in 1960, withAlec Guinness in the lead role. The play explored Lawrence's life as Aircraftsman Ross in the early 1930s.[279] It was revived for a limited run at theChichester Festival Theatre in 2016, withJoseph Fiennes playing the lead.[280] In December 1962David Lean's film,Lawrence of Arabia, was released, withPeter O'Toole in the title role. O'Toole was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.[281] The film was ranked in the top ten films of all time in the 2002Sight and Sound directors' poll.[282] A satirical portrayal towards the end of the 1960s was included inAlan Bennett's playForty Years On (1968). Lawrence is depicted as "Tee Hee Lawrence" because of his high-pitched, feminine, laugh - "clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince...he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas he was mistaken."[283]
The Canadian poetGwendolyn MacEwen's collectionThe T.E. Lawrence Poems, published in 1982, draws directly on Lawrence's writings, particularlySeven Pillars and the collected letters.[289][290][291]Dreaming of Samarkand, a novel byMartin Booth published in 1989, is a fictionalised account of Lawrence's time in Carchemish, and his relationship withJames Elroy Flecker.[292] In 2000, David Stevens publishedThe Waters of Babylon, a novel concerning Lawrence's time in the RAF in which he reflects on his past and enters into a relationship with a (fictional) airman named Slaney.[293][294]Dreamers of the Day, written byMary Doria Russell in 2008, follows a fictional protagonist Agnes Shankin at the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, and her interactions with Lawrence, as well as with Winston Churchill and Gertrude Bell.[295][296]
Richard Meinertzhagen (1878–1967), British intelligence officer and ornithologist, on occasion a colleague of Lawrence's
Rafael de Nogales Méndez (1879–1937), Venezuelan officer who served in the Ottoman Army and was compared to Lawrence
Suleiman Mousa (1919–2008), Jordanian historian who wrote about Lawrence
Oskar von Niedermayer (1885–1948), German officer, professor and spy, sometimes referred to as the German Lawrence
Max von Oppenheim (1860–1946), German-Jewish lawyer, diplomat and archaeologist. Lawrence called his travelogue "the best book on the [Middle East] area I know".
Wilhelm Wassmuss (1880–1931), German diplomat and spy, known as "Wassmuss of Persia" and compared to Lawrence
Suzuki Keiji (1897–1967), Japanese intelligence officer, compared to Lawrence
Military Report on the Sinai Peninsula (1914) restricted publication by the War Office General Staff. Published by Castle Hill Press (1990)
Military Handbook on Palestine (1917)
Arab Memorandum to the Paris Peace Conference (1919)
Sidelights on the Arab War (1919) – article published inThe Times on 4 September 1919.
The Arab Revolt (1920) - earliest surviving but still unpublished manuscript of approximately 400,000 words of theSeven Pillars of Wisdom authenticated byA. W. Lawrence with a letter and held currently by theHarry Ransom Center of theUniversity of Texas[297]
Crusader Castles, Lawrence's Oxford BA thesis in 1910. London: Michael Haag 1986 (ISBN0-902743-53-8). The first edition was published in London in 1936 by theGolden Cockerel Press, in 2 volumes, limited to 1000 copies.
Myself – obituary published in theEvening Standard
Oriental Assembly (1939)
Secret Despatches from Arabia (1939) – expanded asWartime Diaries and Letters (1990)
The Essential T.E. Lawrence (1951)
The Evolution of a Revolt: Early Post-War Writings (1968)
Towards 'An English Fourth' (2009)
The Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force
War in the Desert (2016) – the abandoned abridgement of the 1922 Oxford Text ofSeven Pillars of Wisdom that has never been published before, co-authored withEdward Garnett (Edited by Nicole andJeremy Wilson)
C. Sydney Smith,The Golden Reign (Contains fifty letters from Lawrence to Sydney Smith) London, Cassell, 1940.
H. S. Ede (ed.),Shaw—Ede, T.E. Lawrence's Letters to H. S. Ede 1927–1935 London, Golden Cockerel Press, 1942, 500 copies.
M. R. Lawrence (ed.),The Home Letters of T.E. Lawrence and his Brothers Oxford, Basil Blackwell; NY, Macmillan, 1954
T.E.L. Five Hitherto Unpublished Letters [to R. V. Buxton] – Privately printed, 1975, fifty copies.
H. Montgomery Hyde,Solitary in the Ranks, Lawrence of Arabia as Airman and Private Soldier (An account of Lawrence's service life built around his correspondence with Lord Trenchard.) London, Constable, 1977; New York, Atheneum, 1978.
Edited by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson, Castle Hill Press
Letters from T.E. Lawrence to E.T. Leeds Andoversford (1988). Whittington Press
Minorities: Good Poems by Small Poets and Small Poems by Good Poets, edited by Jeremy Wilson, 1971. Lawrence'scommonplace book includes an introduction by Wilson that explains how the poems comprising the book reflected Lawrence's life and thoughts.
^Wilson 1989, p. 33: In note 34, Wilson discusses a painting in Lawrence's possession at the time of his death which appears to show him as a boy in RGA uniform.
^Wilson 1989, p. 136: Lawrence wrote to his parents, "We are obviously only meant as red herrings to give an archaeological colour to a political job."
^Wilson 1989, p. 313: In note 24, Wilson argues that Lawrence must have known about Sykes–Picot prior to his relationship with Faisal, contrary to a later statement.
^"Naval Operation in the Red Sea 1916–1917".The Naval Review. Vol. 13 (4th ed.).Naval Review. 1925. pp. 648–666.
^"Egyptian Expeditionary Force".Operations in the Gulf of Akaba, Red Sea HMSRaven II. July—August 1916. National Archives, Kew London. File: AIR 1 /2284/ 209/75/8.
^Graves 1934, p. 161: "Akaba was so strongly protected by the hills, elaborately fortified for miles back, that if a landing were attempted from the sea a small Turkish force could hold up a whole Allied division in the defiles."
^Klieman, Aaron "Lawrence as a Bureaucrat" pp. 243–268 fromThe T. E. Lawrence Puzzle edited by Stephen Tabachnick, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984 p. 253.
^Larès, Maurice "T. E. Lawrence and France: Friends or Foes?" pp. 220–242 fromThe T. E. Lawrence Puzzle edited by Stephen Tabachnick, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984 pp. 224 & 236–237.
^Larès, Maurice "T. E. Lawrence and France: Friends or Foes?" pp. 220–242 fromThe T. E. Lawrence Puzzle edited by Stephen Tabachnick, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984 p. 236.
^Larès, Maurice "T. E. Lawrence and France: Friends or Foes?" pages 220–242 fromThe T. E. Lawrence Puzzle edited by Stephen Tabachnick, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984 page 236.
^"Dorset". T. E. Lawrence Society. Retrieved18 January 2020.
^Maartens, Nicholas F.; Wills, Andrew D.; Adams, Christopher B.T. (1 January 2002). "Lawrence of Arabia, Sir Hugh Cairns, and the Origin of Motorcycle Helmets".Neurosurgery.50 (1):176–180.doi:10.1097/00006123-200201000-00026.PMID11844248.S2CID28233149.
^T. E. Lawrence (2000). Jeremy and Nicole Wilson (ed.).Correspondence with Bernard and Charlotte Shaw, 1922–1926. Vol. 1. Castle Hill Press. Foreword by Jeremy Wilson.
^Halliday,100 Myths About the Middle East, 2005, p. 147,ISBN0-86356-529-8.
^Satia, Priya (April 2008).Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain's Covert Empire in the Middle East. Oxford:Oxford University Press. pp. 190–203.
^Grand Strategies; Literature, Statecraft, and World Order, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 8.
^Benson-Gyles, Dick (2016).The Boy in the Mask: The hidden world of Lawrence of Arabia. The Lilliput Press. Benson-Gyles argues for Farida Al-Akle, a Lebanese woman fromByblos (now in Lebanon) who taught Arabic to Lawrence prior to his architectural career.
^Simpson, Colin; Knightley, Phillip (June 1968). "John Bruce".The Sunday Times. (The pieces appeared on 9, 16, 23, and 30 June 1968, and were based mostly on the narrative of John Bruce.)
^Lawrence, T.E. (1997).Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Wordsworth Classics of World Literature.Calder, A. (Introduction). Wordsworth. pp. vi–vii.ISBN978-1853264696.Calder writes in the "Introduction" that returning soldiers often felt intense guilt at having survived, when others did not – even to the point of self-harm.
^abcdAnderson, Scott (2013).Lawrence in Arabia: war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East. New York: Doubleday. pp. re: all pages, see esp. 332-474,365–368, 401,398–402, 406, 413, 423, 455,471–473.ISBN978-0-385-53292-1.
Barr, James (2008).Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia 1916–1918. W.W. Norton & Company.ISBN978-0-393-07095-8.
Crawford, Fred D. (1998).Aldington and Lawrence of Arabia: A cautionary tale. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN978-0-8093-2166-7.
Brown, Malcolm (1988).The Letters of T.E. Lawrence.
Brown, Malcolm, ed. (2005).Lawrence of Arabia: The selected letters. London: Little Books Ltd.
Brown, Malcolm; Cave, Julia (1988).A Touch of Genius: The Life of T.E. Lawrence. London: J.M. Brent.
Carchidi, Victoria K. (1987).Creation Out of the Void: The Making of a Hero, an Epic, a World: T.E. Lawrence. University of Pennsylvania – via University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI.
Ciampaglia, Giuseppe (2010).Quando Lawrence d'Arabia passò per Roma rompendosi l'osso del collo (in Italian). Rome: Strenna dei Romanisti, Roma Amor edit.
Hulsman, John C. (2009).To Begin the World over Again: Lawrence of Arabia from Damascus to Baghdad. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-230-61742-1.
Norman, Andrew (2014).Lawrence of Arabia and Clouds Hill. Halsgrove.ISBN978-0-85704-247-7.
Norman, Andrew (2014).T.E. Lawrence: Tormented hero. Fonthill Media.ISBN978-1-78155-019-9.
Nutting, A. (1961).Lawrence of Arabia: The Man and the Motive. London: Hollis & Carter.
Ocampo, V. (1963).338171 T.E. (Lawrence of Arabia). New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
Paris, T.J. (September 1998). "British Middle East policy-making after the First World War: The Lawrentian and Wilsonian Schools".Historical Journal.41 (3):773–793.doi:10.1017/s0018246x98007997.S2CID161205802.
Sarindar, François (2010).Lawrence d'Arabie. Thomas Edward, cet inconnu. collection "Comprendre le Moyen-Orient". Paris: Editions L'Harmattan.ISBN978-2-296-11677-1.
Sarindar, François (2011). "La vie rêvée de Lawrence d'Arabie: Qantara".Institut du Monde Arabe (in French) (80). Paris:7–9.
Sattin, Anthony (2014).Young Lawrence: A portrait of the legend of a young man. John Murray.ISBN978-1-84854-912-8.
Simpson, Andrew R.B. (2008).Another Life: Lawrence after Arabia. The History Press.ISBN978-1-86227-464-8.
Stang, Charles M., ed. (2002).The Waking Dream of T.E. Lawrence: Essays on his life, literature, and legacy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Stewart, Desmond (1977).T.E. Lawrence. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.ISBN9780060141233 – via Internet Archive (archive.org).
Europeana Collections 1914–1918 makes 425,000 First World War items from European libraries available online, including manuscripts, photographs and diaries by or relating to Lawrence
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