Lawrence, Thomas Edward, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’

Lawrence, Thomas Edward, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (b. 16 Aug. 1888, d. 19 May 1935). British soldier and author Born in Tremadoc (Caernarfonshire), he was educated in Oxford. He developed a strong interest in archaeology as a child, and in 1911 went to work on the British Museum's excavation at Carchemish in northern Syria. He joined the British Military Intelligence Department in Cairo in January 1915. There, he took part in Henry McMahon's negotiations with Sherif Hussein ibn Ali, aimed at securing Arab support for the war against Turkey. As British adviser to the Arab forces, he took an active part in the Arab Revolt, but was captured and tortured before escaping. He assisted in the capture of Damascus in October 1918. By now deeply committed to the principle of Arab self-rule and resentful of imperialist domination of the Middle East, he failed to secure Arab self-government for Syria and Iraq at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Nevertheless, as Churchill's adviser on Arab affairs (1921–2) he was able to push for the granting of a considerable degree of self-rule for Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and Transjordan (now most of Jordan). Apart from brief service in the Tank Corps (1923–5), he served in the RAF (1922–3, 1925–35). His autobiographical account of the Arab Revolt, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926), became a contemporary classic, though less for his account of the plight of Arabs, than to his personal heroism in battle.