Lawrence’s ornately decorated silver-gilt dagger – one of three worn by him during the two years of the Arab Revolt, and later left with Lady Kathleen Scott after she sculpted him in 1921 – has been saved for the nation, after the National Army Museum stepped in to prevent it being sold abroad.
Lawrence’s first dagger, given to him by Sherif Abdullah, was in turn presented as a gift to the Howeitat chiefs, and has presumably disappeared forever. A gold dagger made specially for him in Mecca was sold to Lionel Curtis for £125 to fund repairs to his cottage, Clouds Hill, and is now in the collection of All Souls College, Oxford.
The silver-gilt dagger was presented to Lawrence by Sherif Nasir to celebrate the taking of Akaba in July 1917. After he was sculpted by Lady Scott in February 1921 wearing the dagger and a set of his Arabian robes, he left them in her care while he attended the Cairo conference.
Though there is evidence in his letters that he later regretted their loss, they remained with Lady Scott’s family until last year, when they were put up for auction at Christie’s in London. The dagger and robes were sold to overseas buyers for £122,500 and £12,500 respectively. The Government then put an export bar on both items, to give an opportunity for buyers to match the price and keep them in the UK.
The National Army Museum has now secured the dagger for the nation with a £78,400 grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The Society has heard privately that the buyer of the robes has withdrawn the export licence application and will keep them in the UK, while expressing willingness to lend them to appropriate institutions.
A further £35,000 grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund has enabled the National Army Museum to buy an ivory silk robe and silk headdress belonging to Lawrence which were auctioned in Christie’s Out of the Ordinary Sale in London in September.
The robe was one of two given by Lawrence to the mother of his Tank Corps friend Arthur Russell, with instructions to cut them up to make dresses. Luckily, this one was saved from the scissors. It was bought for £27,500 in the sale. The silk headdress, given to the artist Cosmo Clark when he depicted Lawrence in 1922, was bought for £8,125.
Two other pieces of Lawrence’s Arabian clothing, sold separately to other buyers in the Out of the Ordinary Sale, were a headscarf woven from red silk and gold thread, given by Lawrence to Janet Laurie, which sold for £10,000. A purple silk and copper agal which Lawrence presented to Clare Sydney-Smith, wife of his commanding officer at RAF Cattewater in Plymouth, fetched £27,500.
Announcing the purchase of the dagger, robes and headdress for the nation, the National Army Museum drew attention to the immense cultural impact that Lawrence has had in the century since his wartime achievements.
Museum spokesman Dr Peter Johnston said: “What makes the dagger and robes so significant, and such an important part of British heritage, is the way in which they have featured in the cultural memory and legacy of Lawrence and the Middle East campaign of the First World War.”
The dagger and robes will go on show at the museum, in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, when it reopens after a major refurbishment next year. To see the full press release, click HERE.