Past Symposia

Below are outline programmes for each of the Society’s previous Symposia. Click on the links to download detailed programmes in a pdf format.

T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2016
St John’s College, Oxford, 23-25 September 2016

Friday 23 September

The Strategic Context to the Arab Revolt
Roger Holehouse

Views of An Antique Land:
Egypt and Palestine During the First World War

Dr Steve Mills, Professor Paul T. Nicholson and Hilary Rees

Followed in the evening by the world premiere of a new play
by Jan Woolf, The Man with the Gold

Saturday 24 September

New Light on the Arab Revolt and the Forgotten Few Who Shaped It Philip Walker

Feisal and the Arab Revolt
Professor Ali Allawi

Seeing Arabia: The Personal Photographs of T. E. Lawrence
taken between 1916 and 1918

George Thompson

T. E. Lawrence and the Red Sea Patrol
John Johnson-Allen

Symposium dinner in St John’s College dining hall

Sunday September 25

“Aeroplanes and Arabs”: T. E. Lawrence as Proponent of Air Power
and the British Way in Warfare
Group Captain John Alexander

Colonel Newcombe and Lawrence: Beyond Arabia
Kerry Webber

Lawrence of Arabia’s War
Dr Neil Faulkner

The Boy in the Mask
Dick Benson-Gyles

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2016

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2014
St John’s College, Oxford, 26-28 September 2014

Friday 26 September

In the Footsteps of Lawrence
James Dyer with Cadet Warrant Officer Elaine Seow and Cadet Sergeant Henry Terry of 2427 (Biggin Hill) Squadron Air Training Corps

A Lawrence-Inspired Photographic Journey through Syria and Lebanon
Philip Neale

The Oxford Roof Climber’s Rebellion
St Peter’s Players

Saturday 27 September

T. E. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy and The Dynasts
Jacqueline Dillion

Arab Memoirs from the Arab Revolt
Dr Eugene Rogan

Filming T. E. Lawrence
Professor James Chapman

Private Press Printing with Reference to T. E. Lawrence
Dr Miles Wigfield

Symposium dinner in St John’s College dining hall

Sunday 28 September

An ‘Acute Attack of Lawrencitis’: Lady Kathleen Scott’s Friendship with the Lawrence Family
Alison Jolley

The Lecture League
Adam Gotch

Fateful Encounter: T. E. Lawrence and Lowell Thomas
Dr Carol Lea Clark

Finding Happiness: T. E. Lawrence in Carchemish
Anthony Sattin

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2014

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2012
St Hilda’s College, Oxford, 21-23 September 2012

Friday 21 September

Visits to see Lawrence material held at the Ashmolean Museum,
All Souls College and the former Oxford High School for Boys (now the University’s History Faculty)

Lawrence and the Arab Revolt
Showing of the Society’s new DVD

Society Slides: Locations and Landscapes
John Winterburn

Saturday 22 September

T. E. Lawrence by his Friend Vyvyan Richards: The Untold Story
Paul Helfer

T. E. Lawrence: Military Uniform and Arab Robes, Costume and Identity
Joe Berton

Studies in Detraction: Aldington’s Predecessor, Herbert Read
Mary Bryden

The Hejaz Railway – Construction, Destruction, Reconstruction,
Abandonment – The Future?

Mike Schofield

Symposium dinner in St Hilda’s College dining hall

Sunday 23 September

From Arabia to Albania: The SOE service of ‘Stirling the Suave’
Roderick Bailey

Wavell and TEL – A Military and Literary Friendship 1917-1935
Owen Humphrys

T. E. Lawrence and the Iraqi Rebellion of 1920
David Murphy

T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Spring
Noel Brehony

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2012

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2010
St John’s College, Oxford, 17-19 September 2010

Friday 17 September

Visits to Jesus College and the Ashmolean Museum

The Search for Identity in the Writings of T. E. Lawrence and Sayyid Qutb
Dr Vino Roy

The Journeys of T. E. Lawrence
Alan Payne

Saturday 18 September

Humour in The Mint?
Dr Andrew Williams

Colonel P.C. Joyce and the Arab Revolt
Dr David Murphy

The Jeddah Diary of Captain T. P. Goodchild during the Arab Revolt, 1916
Philip Walker

The Druze and Karaka Revolts of 1910: Prelude to the Arab Revolt
Dr Eugene Rogan

The T. E. Lawrence Society’s 25th anniversary dinner in St John’s College dining hall

Sunday 19 September

T. E. Lawrence and the Tribes
Dr Eveline van der Steen

T. E. Lawrence and the Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Dr Roderick Bailey

Richard Aldington: Lawrence’s Strongest Critic
Philip Neale

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2010

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2008
St John’s College, Oxford, 26-28 September 2008

Friday 28 September

A day out to Dorset visiting Wareham, Clouds Hill, Moreton and the Tank Museum in Bovington

Saturday 27 September

Charlotte Shaw and Lawrence
Dr Rhoda Nathan

T. E. Lawrence and Brough Superior Motorcycles
Alan Payne

Trains, Trenches and Tents: The Archaeology of Lawrence of Arabia’s War
Dr Neil Faulkner

The Building of the Edwards H. Metcalf T. E. Lawrence Collection
Dr Philip M. O’Brien

Symposium dinner in St John’s College dining hall

Sunday 28 September

T. E. Lawrence and the French
James Barr

T. E. Lawrence and the Garnetts – A Literary Friendship
Philip Neale

T. E. Lawrence and the Imperial Camel Corps
Joe Berton

An Eternal Triangle
Gordon Atkin

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2008

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2006
St John’s College, Oxford, 22-24 September 2006

Friday 22 September

T. E. Lawrence: Aspects of Collecting
Workshop led by Jack Flavell, Edward Maggs and Dr Philip M. O’Brien

Lawrence After Arabia
Introduced by Malcolm Brown

Saturday 23 September

Cycling in the Early 1900s – Transport, Sport and Pastime
Dr Andrew Millward

1906-2006: Centennial Reflections on Lawrence in Brittany
Professor Peter Hibbert

Dr M. R. Lawrence, and Evangelical Christianity in the Lawrence Family
Dr Michael Griffiths

Lawrence and Maps, 1914-16
Dr Peter Chasseaud

Bumpus & Bumpus Booksellers to HM The King and Champion of
T. E. Lawrence: A Tale of Subscribers, Bindings and Exploitation

Paul Helfer

Symposium dinner in St John’s College dining hall

Sunday 24 September

TEL and DHL: Overlapping Circles; Parallel Lives
Jack Flavell

Lawrence and the Schneider Trophy
Pieter Shipster

The ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Photographs by Harry Chase, 1918-19
Joe Berton

The Hedjaz Railway Today
The Rev Bob Jackson

Rails to the Arabian Desert
Introduced by Nick Lera

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2006

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2004
St John’s College, Oxford, 24-26 September 2004

Friday 24 September

Taking Stock: T. E. Lawrence – The Physical Legacy
Workshop led by A. J. Flavell, Dr Philip M. O’Brien and Jeremy
Wilson

T. E. Lawrence: 1888-1935, BBC Television Documentary, 1962
Introduced by Malcolm Brown

Saturday 25 September

The Lawrence Brothers and the Sassoon Cousins – A Tale of Two Families
Paul Helfer

T. E. Lawrence at Carchemish
Jonathan Tubb

What did the Arab Revolt contribute to the Palestine Campaigns? An Assessment
Dr Matthew Hughes

Discussion
Malcolm Brown, John Mack and Jeremy Wilson

Sunday 26 September

Lawrence, Malraux, and the Figure of the ‘Aventurier’
Mary Bryden

‘King of the Pictures’: Eric Kennington and the Subscribers’ Edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom – as Art Editor and Illustrator 1921-26
Jonathan Black

‘The Jolliest Things on Wheels’, T. E., His Motor-Cycling and Motor-Cycles
Richard Knowles

Making Lawrence of Arabia – The Battle for the Arab World
James Hawes with George Pagliero

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2004

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2002
Exeter College, Oxford, 13-15 September 2002

Friday 13 September

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ or ‘Smith in the Desert’ – A Historical Review of David Lean’s Film
Workshop led by Jeremy Wilson

Saturday 14 September

Tall Tales of T.E.L: An Uncritical Romp through Continental European Myths and Legends about Lawrence the Spy
Jonathan Mandelbaum

T. E. Lawrence in The Wilderness of Zin
Sam Moorhead

Discoveries – Early Texts of Seven Pillars
Shea Johnson

A Tale of Two Effigies
Jonathan Black

Sunday 15 September

The RAF in the Middle East and India in the 1920s
David Omissi

The Hedjaz Railway
St. John Armitage

Aircraftman Icarus; or Lawrence and the Golden Goblet
Edward Maggs

T. E. Lawrence’s Friendships with Women
Jeremy Wilson

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2002

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 2000
St John’s College, Oxford, 23-25 September 2000

Saturday 23 September

T. E. Lawrence as Bibliophile and the Disposition of the Clouds Hill Library
Paul Helfer

T. E. Lawrence: Toward a Dialectic of Self and Empire
Susan Williams

Lawrence in London
Jeremy Wilson

Lawrence & Fame: the Spur & Snare
Malcolm Brown

Sunday 24 September

Was T. E. Lawrence Really Related to Sir Walter Raleigh?
Ronald Knight

T. E. Lawrence Collections in the Bodleian Library
Jack Flavell & Anne Dunn

Lawrence’s Landscapes: the Geography of Seven Pillars
Ian Brookes

Research in Progress
Various speakers

Monday 25 September

A day trip to Dorset

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 2000

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T. E. Lawrence at the End of the 20th Century:
A Scholarly Conference
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California, USA,
5-6 May 2000

Friday 5 May

T. E. Lawrence as Bibliophile and the Mystery of the Disposition of Clouds Hill Library
Paul Helfer

Saturday 6 May

T. E. Lawrence and the Art of War at the Dawn of the 21st Century
George Gawrych, Ph.D.

Lawrence Biography at the Crossroads: Evidence, Speculation, Prejudice, and Invention
Jeremy Wilson

What T. E. Lawrence Got Wrong and Why: Lessons for a New Millennium
James Gelvin, Ph.D.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom in Cipher: Literary Allusions in the 1922 and Subscriber’s Editions
Rebecca Edwards, Ph.D.

T. E. Lawrence and Wyndham Lewis – A Most Peculiar Relationship
Paul Helfer

 CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE PROGRAMME 2000

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 1998
St John’s College, Oxford, 19-20 September 1998

Saturday 19 September

T. E. Lawrence and Wyndham Lewis: A Most Peculiar Relationship
Paul Helfer

Lawrence’s Many Names and Pseudonyms
Harold Orlans

Armoured Cars in the Middle East
David Fletcher

Service Life: T. E. Lawrence to Charlotte Shaw
Jeremy Wilson

Sunday 20 September

Filming T. E. Lawrence: Korda’s Lost Epic
Andrew Kelly

Lowell Thomas: the Paperboy from Victor
Ian Gourlay

T. E. Lawrence and Elgar’s Third Symphony
Christopher Joyce

Research in Progress
Various speakers

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 1998

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 1996
St Hilda’s College, Oxford, 21-22 September 1996

Saturday 21 September

Lawrence’s Oxford
Malcolm Graham

Crusaders and their Squires: Lawrence’s Interest in Brass-Rubbing
Fr Jerome Bertram

Potsherds and Plasticine: Lawrence the Collector
Maureen Mellor

William Morris and his Influence on T. E. Lawrence
Peter Faulkener

Lawrenciana: Riches and Riddles for a Collector
Edward Maggs

Research Projects in Progress
Various speakers

Behind the Genteel Façade
Malcolm Brown

Sunday 22 September

The Wilderness of Zin
Nicholas Lynch

Filling in Time
H. St. J. B. Armitage, CBE

A bus tour including a visit to 2 Polstead Road

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 1996

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 1994
Magdalen College and St Hilda’s College, Oxford,
17-18 September 1994

Saturday 17 September

T. E. Lawrence as Leader
Professor John Adair

The Edwards H. Metcalf Collection at the Huntington Library
Dr Philip M. O’Brien

T. E. Lawrence and the Press
Jeremy Wilson

Lawrence on Southampton Water
Fred Murley

Research Projects in Progress
Various speakers

Sunday 18 September

The T. E. Lawrence Letters
Clifford Irwin

T. E. Lawrence by his Friends
Malcolm Brown

A guided tour of Lawrence’s Oxford with Valerie Thompson

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 1994

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 1992
Jesus College, Oxford, 5-6 September 1992

Saturday 5 September

First Report from the Lowell Thomas Archive
Janet Riesman

T. E. Lawrence – A Personal View
Jeremy Wilson

A Journey through Syria in Lawrence’s Footsteps
Nicholas Lynch

The Mint – Illustrated
Wing Commander K. J. Harden

T. E. Lawrence – The Deceit of his Detractors
H. St. J. B. Armitage, CBE

Sunday 6 September

Critics’ Forum – ‘A Dangerous Man’
Jeremy Wilson

T. E. Lawrence Materials at Oxford
Jeremy Wilson

A guided tour of Lawrence’s Oxford with Valerie Thompson

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 1992

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T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium 1990
Jesus College, Oxford, 22-23 September 1990

Saturday 22 September

T. E. Lawrence’s Friendship with Frederic Manning
Nicholas Birnie

T. E. Lawrence as Archaeologist
Dr Rupert Chapman

T. E. Lawrence’s Correspondence with Charlotte Shaw
Jeremy Wilson

The 1962 BBC Television Documentary
Malcolm Brown

Memories of T. E. Lawrence
Arthur Russell

T. E. Lawrence and the Bodleian Library
A. J. Flavell

T. E. Shaw and the British Power Boat Co.
Adrian Rance

Tale of an ‘Arabian Knight’, the T. E. Lawrence Effigy
Richard Knowles

Sunday 23 September

A Lawrence walking tour with Valerie Thompson

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME 1990

The international Society for everyone with an interest in the life of T. E. Lawrence