Thomas Edward Lawrence.
Born on this day, Aug 16, 1888, Thomas Edward Lawrence, known as "Lawrence of Arabia", the army officer, archaeologist, diplomat, and author, set conspiracy theorists’ tongues wagging. Here Steven Roberts goes in search of the truth.
A passionate motorcyclist, he was riding the latest of his eight Brough Superiors near his Dorset home, when tragedy occurred. A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on bicycles until it was too late. He took evasive action, swerved, lost control, and was catapulted over the handlebars.
It was 13 May 1935, and the unfortunate rider was Thomas Edward Lawrence, T.E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia. His catastrophic injuries proved fatal as he died six days later at Bovington Camp. As often happens, the tragic early death of a celebrity set conspiracy theorists’ tongues wagging. To get to the bottom of the story, we’ll head further into Dorset and set out in search of the tale of T.E. Lawrence.
A society wedding
I’m starting in my hometown of Christchurch in Dorset. We’re down the eastern end of the county, in fact, any further east and we’re in Hampshire. We have reputedly the longest parish church in England standing at 311 feet in the late-11th century Christchurch Priory, which was once part of a monastic establishment. It was here on 18 December 1933, just 18 months before that fateful accident that the wedding of decorated WW1 hero and poet Siegfried Sassoon took place. The guest list, of some 20 family and friends, included artist Rex Whistler, and another WWI hero, T.E. Lawrence. It’s a sad thought that Lawrence, aged 45 when in that congregation, had so little of his eventful life left.
Born in August 1888 in Wales, Lawrence was multifaceted/ He was an army officer, an archaeologist, a diplomat and an author. Archaeology is on my mind in Wareham, the ‘Gateway to the Purbecks’ (FYI: the Isle of Purbeck is a peninsular, not an island). Wareham is all but surrounded by immense earthen walls due to having been an Anglo-Saxon fortified burh. Created by Alfred the Great, these were defensible against Viking attack. Wareham’s walls are among the best preserved of these Saxon fortifications in the country and would have fascinated Lawrence, an Oxford graduate, who worked as an archaeologist for the British Museum mostly at Carchemish in Ottoman Syria, as a junior team member. It was here he first befriended the desert people who later played a pivotal role in his story. Lawrence must have walked Wareham’s walls when he stayed in the town. It’s a ‘must do’ even if you’re not into ancient, or Anglo-Saxon, treasures.
Wareham
We know where Lawrence stayed when in Wareham. Today it’s the Anglebury House Hotel located on North Street, although back then it was a private house where he stayed with a friend. There’s a window seat, looking out on the street through a leaded pane, with a plaque, recalling that Lawrence liked taking his coffee here, spending “many a pleasant hour” as the plaque puts it. It’s still possible to spend a pleasant hour in Wareham as it’s an historic market town on the Frome. There’s a Grade I listed church on the wall, where the B3075 road punctures it. St Martin’s on the Walls, Dorset’s most complete Anglo-Saxon church, includes a stone effigy of Lawrence in full Arab dress. It was sculpted by Lawrence’s friend, Eric Kennington who was a gifted sculptor and artist-illustrator whose most notable book illustrations were for Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, his autobiographical account of his role in the Arab Revolt during WW1. Wareham Town Museum, in East Street, has a section on Lawrence, displaying documents and exhibits. Whilst in the Purbecks, don’t miss Corfe with its ruined castle. Corfe was a favourite jolly for Lawrence and the scene of one of his many motorbike accidents.
The Arab revolt
The revolt gave flight to the Lawrence of Arabia demi-legend, including the film starring Peter O’Toole, and explains why Kennington’s sculpture depicts Lawrence in Arab garb. Soon after the war’s outbreak, Lawrence volunteered for the British Army and was stationed in Egypt, working for the Arab Bureau intelligence unit. Travelling to Mesopotamia and Arabia on intelligence missions, Lawrence quickly involved himself in the Arab Revolt, supporting the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz’s war of independence against the Ottoman empire, which aligned with British war aims by inconveniencing Turkey, a German ally. Lawrence participated in, and sometimes led, military actions against the Turks, which eventually led to Damascus’s capture in October 1918. It’s been held that it was Lawrence’s ability to penetrate the nomadic, tribal “closed shop” that enabled him to breath life into the revolt, playing the role of partisan leader.
Clouds Hill
From Wareham, we’ll follow the Puddletown Road west for more pieces of the Lawrence jigsaw. Clouds Hill, a tiny woodsman’s cottage, evokes the spirit of Lawrence more than any other place, remaining much as he left it with furniture and fittings he designed. He first rented the cottage in 1923, then purchased it in 1925 as he determined to maintain his link to Dorset even if he wasn’t always here. It would be a holiday place for himself, friends and family, but he was also making improvements, with his retirement in mind. Lawrence described Clouds Hill as an “earthly paradise” and a place that wild mares wouldn’t drag him from in a letter to Nancy Astor, dated 8 May, 1935, just five days before his accident. He’d abandoned his glamorous Lawrence of Arabia persona by this time and was contentedly incognito at nearby Bovington Army Camp as a humble private.
Obscurity and tragedy
Lawrence’s exploits in helping to amalgamate disparate Bedouin tribes in an assault against the Turks won him renown but also led to disillusion as victorious European politicians reneged on hoped-for Arab autonomy. Lawrence was a delegate at the post-war peace conference, but had no success here, or later, when advising the Colonial Office, in furthering Arab ambitions. Harbouring feelings of resentment and betrayal, Lawrence opted for anonymity, joining the RAF under the assumed name of J.H. Ross, whilst withdrawing from “the shallow grave of public duty”. This next phase of Lawrence’s life brought him to Bovington Camp, due south of Clouds Hill. He enlisted in the Tanks Corp in March 1923, until his transfer back to the RAF in August 1925, when he called himself Aircraftsman T.E. Shaw. It was during this time he first rented, then purchased Clouds Hill.
To get from Clouds Hill to Bovington, you’ll pass the crash site. After serving a dozen years in the Air Force ranks, Lawrence returned to Clouds Hill. He was heading home from the camp post office when calamity befell him. He was taken to the camp’s medical centre where he expired five days later. The accident site is marked by a stone erected by the T.E. Lawrence Society. There’s a small car park about 400 yards south of Clouds Hill, on that Bovington Road. A narrow footpath heads north to the stone. In the car park is a second, accessible stone, placed here in 1983 by a colleague of Lawrence’s from his Arab campaign days. The road is not as it was when Lawrence rode to his death. It’s wider and lacks the dips, but you can still stand here and get a feeling of what transpired.
Military hardware
Bovington Camp provides training for the Royal Armoured Corps and other units but is also home to the world-renowned Tank Museum which has around 300 military vehicles from over two dozen countries. It is the largest collection of tanks in the world and the third-largest collection of armoured vehicles, including the only working example of a German Tiger I tank from WW2, and a British Mark I, the world’s oldest surviving combat tank from WW1. Established in 1947, it’s the museum of both the Royal Armoured Corps and the Royal Tank Regiment. It’s fair to say the camp has changed significantly since Lawrence was here in the 1920s and ‘30s. There’s a 6¾ mile signposted Lawrence of Arabia Trail which commences from the museum, heading via Clouds Hill, to our final destination, Moreton.
Moreton
Lawrence’s funeral service was held in the church of St Nicholas and St Magnus, in the nearby village of Moreton. Held on 21st May 1935, it was attended by colleagues from his service days, eminent friends, and one Winston Churchill. Lawrence won’t be found at the church though but at the parish churchyard, a short walk away. The church received a direct hit during WW2, which destroyed its stained glass windows. They were replaced by clear glass with engravings by Laurence Whistler (1912-2000) who was the brother of the Rex Whistler (1905-44), who’d attended the same wedding as Lawrence in Christchurch Priory in December 1933. The Moreton Tea Rooms provide an essential pit stop as there’s a room of Lawrence images, while the funeral bier that carried Lawrence’s coffin now acts as a cake stand. I think Lawrence would have approved. From Moreton it’s worth continuing on to Dorchester, Dorset’s county town. Just before you get there, around 6½ miles from Moreton, is Grade I Listed Max Gate, the home of novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). Lawrence became friends with Hardy and was a regular visitor to Max Gate when he was at Bovington.
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