Journal Volumes XVII-XX

Below is a summary of the contents of Volumes XVII to XX of the
Journal, which were those published between Autumn 2007 and Spring 2011.

More detailed descriptions of all Journal articles from Vol. I, No. 1 to the present day can be downloaded in pdf format by clicking HERE.

Additionally, the contents of Journals Vol. I, No. 1 to Vol. XXIV, No. 2 arranged by subject matter can be downloaded in the form of a ROUGH GUIDE compiled by former Society chairman Nick Lynch.

Vol. XVII, No. 1, Autumn 2007

Ronald Knight: The Reverend Victor Donald Siddons, MBE, DFC, MA, and the Siddons Collection

Ronald Knight describes the life and career of Captain Victor Siddons who served in the Hejaz first with ‘C’ Flight and later with ‘X’ Flight, which he commanded. He explains how the Society acquired its Siddons Collection that is on display at the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset.

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June Thompson: The Case for the Defence: A Rebuttal of Matthew Hughes’ View that Neither T. E Lawrence nor the Arabs were of a Military Significance to the Palestine Campaign

When the Society published the paper by Dr Matthew Hughes on what the Arab Revolt contributed to the Palestine Campaign (Vol. XV, No. 2), it invited someone to challenge Dr Hughes’ contention that the Revolt ‘was of marginal military significance to the defeat of the Turks’. June Thompson picked up this particular gauntlet and provides a rebuttal case for the defence.

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Harold Orlans: Intellectuals Appraise Colonel Lawrence

Harold Orlans discusses the appraisal of Lawrence by prominent
literary intellectuals, critics, and writers such as Herbert Read, W. H. Auden, Hannah Arendt, and V. S. Pritchett.

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Michael Griffiths: Evangelical Christianity in the Lawrence Family

This paper, presented at the Society’s 2006 Symposium, looks at the subject with reference to each member of the Lawrence family, with particular emphasis on Bob Lawrence and his work with the China Inland Mission where he was later accompanied by his mother.

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Vol. XVII, No. 2, Spring 2008

Joe Berton: The Henry Chase Photographs of T. E. Lawrence

The mythology and celebrity status of Lawrence have their origins in the post-war Travelogues presented by Lowell Thomas to vast numbers of people, particularly in London. The iconic images were the work of photographer Harry Chase, who accompanied Thomas to document the war in Palestine and Arabia.

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Jack Flavell: T. E. and D. H. Lawrence: Overlapping Circles; Parallel Lives

T. E. Lawrence described sharing the same name as his contemporary D. H. Lawrence as an ‘unhappy likeness’ and this provides the starting point for the article by Jack Flavell. This paper looks at their ‘parallel lives’ – they never actually met – and examines what each knew or thought of the other, and places T. E. within the context of the literary world at the time.

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Edward Said: A Standing Civil War

In this reprinted extract from one of his books, Edward Said elaborates in his usual eloquent prose and pungently expressed opinions on what he considers to be the ‘great question’ about Lawrence, namely, ‘What was he all about?’

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Major Michael D. Sullivan, US Army: Leadership in Counterinsurgency: A Tale of Two Leaders

Major Sullivan compares Lawrence and Field-Marshall Sir Gerald Templer, albeit from their different perspectives of historical period and geographical region. He particularly contrasts their exemplary, but also complementary, roles as leaders either for or against a particular rebellion.

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Vol. XVIII, No.1, Autumn 2008

Mark Calderbank: Hubert Young’s Revolt in Arabia Petraea

This paper discusses Major (later Sir) Hubert Young’s memoirs, The Independent Arab, about his experiences in the Middle East from 1915 to 1920, and particularly the section entitled Arabia Petraea about Young’s role in the Arab Revolt between March and September 1918.

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Harold Orlans: Lawrence of Arabia: The Hero who Despised Himself

This paper written by Harold Orlans, first published in T. E. Notes,
is reprinted as a tribute to Orlans, and to acknowledge his many contributions to this Journal over the years. He said shortly before his death in December 2007, ‘It is, I believe, the most important piece I have written on Lawrence, but I don’t know anyone who has read it or discussed its main point.’

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Basil Jones: Shaw – Formerly Lawrence of Arabia

An account of Lawrence’s time in India by one of his fellow ‘rankers’, LAC Basil Jones. It provides an insight not only into daily life in the camp but also describes Lawrence’s inventiveness, his great love of music and books, and especially his uncanny ability to ‘be one of us’.

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Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Spring 2009

Alan Payne: T. E. Lawrence and Brough Superior Motorcycles

Lawrence owned seven Brough Superior motorcycles during his life, and an eighth was on order before his fatal crash in May 1935. This paper, presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium, looks at the relationship between its larger than life designer, George Brough, and Lawrence. Lawrence’s mechanical expertise is assessed against possible design flaws in the Brough and the lack of attention to maintenance which may have contributed to his fatal accident.

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Dr J. Trevor Hughes: Lawrence of Arabia and Hugh Cairns: Crash
Helmets for Motorcyclists

One of the attending physicians summoned to see Lawrence after his accident in May 1935 was  Australian neurosurgeon Dr Hugh Cairns. Cairns studied the causes and consequences of head injury in road accidents and produced evidence of the beneficial effects of wearing crash helmets. The use of helmets was made compulsory in Britain in 1973. This article was first published in 1988.

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Depositions Taken at the Inquest on View of the Body of Thomas Edward Shaw

A reprint of the proceedings of the Coroner’s Inquest held on May 21 1935 including statements made by Ralph Jones (coroner); A. W. Lawrence; Captain Allen (physician in Bovington Hospital); Albert Hargraves and Frank Fletcher (the two cyclists involved in the accident); and Corporal Catchpole (witness to the accident).

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Gordon Atkin: An Eternal Triangle: Victor Yeates, Henry Williamson and T. E. Lawrence

It was on returning from Bovington after replying to Henry Williamson’s suggestion of a meeting at which Victor Yeates’s unfinished novel, Family Life, was to be discussed that Lawrence had his accident. Yeates’s semi-autobiographical novel about aerial combat in the First World War, Winged Victory, was enthusiastically
endorsed by Lawrence who described it as ‘one of the most distinguished histories of the war.’ This paper was presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium.

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James Barr: T. E. Lawrence and the French

This paper, presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium, examines Lawrence’s attitude to the French before, during and after the war, placing this within the broader context of Anglo-French relations.

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Vol. XIX, No.1, Autumn 2009

Neil Faulkner and Nicholas J. Saunders: Trains, Trenches and Tents: The Archaeology of Lawrence of Arabia’s War

The authors of this paper, presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium, are co-directors of the Great Arab Revolt Project, set up to
investigate the archaeology of the Arab Revolt. Finds have demonstrated that the Revolt was a people’s war, in which entire tribes rose against occupying forces. The paper argues that the effectiveness of guerrilla warfare such as this cannot be measured using criteria applicable to conventional warfare, and that the Revolt helped create the modern Middle East by launching Arab nationalism as a major force in modern politics.

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

The lives of both Edward and David Garnett and the relationship which they developed with Lawrence are examined through their correspondence. This paper was first presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium.

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

Philip O’Brien,  a friend of Edwards H. Metcalf, has been sorting through his papers and trying to understand how his outstanding collection of Lawrence material was put together over the years. In a paper originally presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium, he presents the results of his research and introduces some of the riches of the collection.

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Vol. XIX, No. 2, Spring 2010

Charles Eilers: It’s a Shy Bird: The Life and Times of the US Copyright Edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom

This paper describes the convoluted history surrounding the publication of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in 1926 by the George H. Doran Company in New York in order to secure copyright protection in the US. This is an absorbing and original story about these extremely rare books and what exactly happened to them.

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Neil Dearberg: The Arab Revolt and the Anzacs

A wide-ranging account of the important, distinctive and colourful contribution of Australian forces to the Arab Revolt on land, sea and air and the direct links made with Lawrence himself. The capture and early administration of Damascus and particularly the vexed issue of who arrived first is examined.

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Vol. XX, No. 1, Autumn 2010

Special Society Silver Anniversary Edition

Sir Mark Allen: Lawrence Among the Arabs

Sir Mark Allen, a distinguished Arabist who has spent much of his diplomatic career dealing with the Middle East, addressed the formal dinner at the Society’s 2010 Symposium. Here we present the entire text from his insightful talk, where he looked at the qualities that enabled Lawrence to exert leadership over the Arabs.

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Ravi Amaratunga: T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell: Two Contrasting Reputations and Exploits

Lawrence and Gertrude Bell are both identified with the political settlement of the Middle East after the war. They also shared many qualities and commonalities. However, there are enormous differences regarding the public attention paid to Lawrence and Bell.

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Christophe Leclerc: French Eye-witness Accounts of Lawrence and the Arab Revolt, Part 1

In a two-part article (the second part appears in the next Journal), Christophe Leclerc presents and comments on four texts relevant to the French and the Arab Revolt. The first is the report of Lieutenant de Saint-Quentin, French attaché to GHQ at Cairo (1915-1918), who saw Lawrence as being ‘probably the most remarkable figure in the British Army or administration in the Orient’. The second text is the unpublished forward to Le Hedjaz dans la Guerre Mondiale (1931) by Colonel Bremond, which contains many observations on Lawrence.

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Vol. XX, No. 2, Spring 2011

Christophe Leclerc: A French Verbatim about T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt and French Eye-witness Accounts of Lawrence and the Arab Revolt, Part 2

The last Journal published the first of a two-part series of texts of French eye-witnesses to Lawrence and the Arab Revolt together with a commentary by Christophe Leclerc. We now publish the second part. The first text is an extract from unpublished notes written by Lieutenant Auguste Lamotte who commanded the French
detachment based at Wejh. The second text is an article by another former member of the French Hedjaz Military Mission, Sergeant Marcel Matte, that was first published in Les Nouvelles Litteraires (March 1963). Owing to the first-hand nature of these four
accounts, the original French text has been included here together with Christophe Leclerc’s commentary in the original language.

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Joe Berton: Lawrence and the Imperial Camel Corps

This paper, presented at the Society’s 2008 Symposium, describes in detail the use of the Imperial Camel Corps, under Robin Buxton, to attack and capture the railway station at Mudawarra in early August 1918. As well as shedding light on Lawrence’s links with the Imperial Camel Corps, this paper contains references to some other notable individuals associated with the Arab Revolt, such as Dawnay, Joyce, Pierce and Stirling.

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