biography
| name: |
Lawrence, T(homas) E(dward)
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known as Lawrence of Arabia
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1888–1935)
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| biography:
| Soldier, Arabist, and writer, born in Tremadoc, Gwynedd, NW Wales, UK. He studied at Oxford, and became a junior member of the British Museum archaeological team at Carchemish, on the Euphrates (1911–14). In 1916 he was appointed the British liaison officer to the Arab Revolt against the Turks, led by Feisal, the son of the Sherif of Mecca, and was present at the taking of Aqaba in 1917 and of Damascus in 1918. He was an adviser to Feisal at the Paris Peace Conference and a member of the Middle East Department at the Colonial Office (1921). He was a delegate to the Peace Conference, and later became adviser on Arab affairs to the Colonial Office (1921–2). His exploits received so much publicity that he became a legendary figure, and he attempted to escape his fame by enlisting in the ranks of the RAF as an aircraftman under the assumed name of John Hume Ross. When his identity was discovered, he joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1923 as T E Shaw, transferring back to the RAF in 1925. He was discharged in 1935, and was killed in a motor-cycling accident near his Dorset home. His major works were The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (for private circulation, 1926), Revolt in the Desert (1927), Crusader Castles (1936), Oriental Assembly (1929), and The Mint (1936). |
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