LAWRENCE, THOMAS EDWARD (1888-1935), Brit ish explorer and scholar, was born in Wales on Aug. 15, 1888, of a Leicestershire family, one branch of which had moved to the neighbourhood of Dublin and thence to Oxford. The second of five brothers, he was educated at the Oxford high school and at Jesus college, Oxford, where, in 191o, he took a first class in modern history. In order to study Crusading architecture he made in that year a tour through Syria on foot ; and the colloquial Arabic, which he then picked up, and his interest in and know ledge of archaeology, commended him to D. G. Hogarth, who was about to lead an expedition to Jerablus on the Euphrates and excavate the site of Carchemish for the British Museum. Thither Lawrence went in 1911, with the assistance of a post-graduate endowment at Magdalen college ; and at Carchemish he worked on and off till 1914, taking several opportunities to explore Syria and Mesopotamia in native company and accepting for a few weeks an appointment under the Palestine Exploration Fund, which attached him to the Survey of North Sinai carried out by Col. Newcombe, R.E., for the War Office in the winter of 1913-14. Though naturally inclined to scholarship and letters, he showed singular practical ability and capacity for leadership, and a remarkable power of inspiring confidence in Arabs.
On the outbreak of the World War, Lawrence, being below standard height, obtained at first no more active service than a post in the geographical section of the War Office. But soon after Turkey had joined the Central Powers he was sent by Lord Kitchener to Egypt and attached to a rudimentary Military In telligence Section. He was a moving spirit in the negotiations leading to an Arab revolt and in organizing the Arab Bureau which, as finally constituted early in 1916, acted as staff and intelligence office for the Arab campaigns. In the autumn Law rence, feeling that stalemate would ensue if closer liaison between the British and the Arabs were not effected, asked leave to go down to Jidda, and once there, was transferred to the Arab Bureau, which was under the Foreign Office. Hearing good accounts of the Emir Faisal, he persuaded Sharif Hussain to let him go inland and visit the force which had been driven back from Medina. He soon won the confidence of Faisal, and induced him to re organize 'his army and move north so as to threaten the com munications of Medina by attacking the Hejaz Railway. With his chief established at Wejh, and the army of another brother, `Abdulla, brought to Wadi Ais to co-operate, Lawrence rode off into the interior to raise the northern tribes, and so extend the area to be held and defended against the Turks. He pushed right up to and beyond Baalbek, i.e., behind the enemy lines in Syria, and on his return, having picked up a Huweitat force under the famous raider, Auda Abu Tayyi, he routed a Turkish battalion near Mean, and forced a passage to 'Aqaba which was occupied for Faisal in Aug. 1917. For this exploit he was promoted to field rank and given decorations, British and French, which, however, he would not accept.
Lawrence, now cordially helped by General Allenby, prompted the successive forward moves made by Faisal's force, after 'Aqaba had become its base, and himself organized and led a battle in Wadi el-Hesa, near Esh Shobek, in which the enemy suffered his worst defeat in the open. He turned his attention in particular to train-wrecking and had such success that Medina became virtually isolated, and a large reward was advertised for the capture of "El-Orens, destroyer of engines." Early in 1918 he made a desperate attempt to cut the Turkish Palestine army's railway communication with Damascus, and failed only by a hair's breadth. In that summer, in concert with Allenby, he induced Faisal to move up to Qasr Azraq and organize a new force to advance on Damascus. This duly moved up in the autumn side by side with Allenby and after breaking up the enemy's trans-Jordan army, entered Damascus some hours ahead of the British. Lawrence took charge of the city till Allenby could reach it, and suppressed attempts at reaction.
Called to the Peace Conference, Lawrence became one of its outstanding figures during the spring of 1919. His legendary fame as organizer and inspirer of guerrilla tactics was enhanced by the forcible part that he played when Faisal, whom he had accompanied on a British tour, came to Paris. But fight as Lawrence might against French plans for Syria, he could not prevail in that milieu, and at last, retiring to his tent, he sat down to write the narrative of his adventures. The first ms. was subsequently lost but he began again, and of ter many recensions, it was announced that the book, under the title The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, would be issued in 1926. He was elected a Research Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, in 1919, and resided there for a year, but without entering much into the college life. In 1921 Winston Churchill called him to the Colonial Office as adviser on Arab affairs, in which capacity he had a large share in making Faisal king of 'Iraq. But, disgusted with the failure of the Allies to fulfil adequately what he considered their moral obligations to the Arabs, and remorseful for his own part in leading them on, Lawrence abruptly left Government service in 1922 and enlisted as a mechanic in the Royal Air Force. In 1923 he sought refuge from publicity in the Tank Corps, but was re-transferred to the R.A.F. in 1925, and served for a time on the north-west frontier in India. In 1927 he changed his name by deed poll to Shaw. He was recalled to England in April 1928, and took his discharge from the R.A.F. in March 1935. On May 13, 1935, he met with a motor-cycling accident in Moreton, Dorsetshire, and died on May 19. (D. G. H.; X.) The Seven Pillars of Wisdom was published in 1926 in a very limited edition and immediately began to fetch fantastic prices. A much abridged and expurgated edition was published for the general public under the title Revolt in the Desert in 1927. See also R. Graves, Lawrence and the Arabs (1927).