T. E. Lawrence
British traveller and archaeologist; also known as Shaw, Ross, and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’; he was born in Tremadoc, N. Wales, 15 Aug. 1888, illegitimate son of Thomas Robert Chapman, who had assumed the name of Lawrence, and Sarah Junner; he was educated at Oxford High School and Jesus College, Oxford, BA, 1911; at this time he wrote a thesis later published as Crusader Castles, 1936; in 1911 he joined D. G. Hogarth and Sir Leonard Woolley at Carchemish, assisting on these excavations until 1914; in 1914 he took part in a mapping project in Sinai for the Palestine Exploration Fund; during this period he joined Petrie for most of the season 1911-12 at Kafr Ammar helping on the large cemetery site; Lt.-Col., 1918; served on the British Delegation at the Peace Conference, 1919; Adviser on Arab Affairs, Middle East Division, Colonial Office, 1921-2; his experiences in Sinai led to the publication of The Wilderness of Zin, 1915; he later joined the RAF under the name of J. H. Ross, 1922, served on the NW frontier of India, was recalled, 1928, and served as an aircraftman until Feb. 1935; he died in Bovington Camp Hospital, 19 May 1935 after a motor-cycle accident.
