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Jeremy Wilson
Page updated June 2012
Royal Air Force
file AIR 1/2702
Lt-Col T.E.
Lawrence - question of retention of rank
Note: In addition to the content specifically noted below, this file also contains a document relating to forwarding a letter to Lawrence.
National Archives (Public Record Office), London
| 1929 Mar 8 to 22 Minutes | The Labour Party MP Ernest Thurtle had put down a Parliamentary question concerning Lawrence's military rank (as an ex-Lieutenant-Colonel) in view of the fact that he was now serving in the ranks as an Aircraftman. On 30 January 1929 Sir Samuel Hoare had answered the question, and the War Office was now raising matters arising with the Air Ministry. These minutes, which include one by the Chief of Air Staff, deal with the formulation of the Air Ministry's response. |
| 1929 Mar 6 A.E. Widdows (War Office) to the Secretary of the Air Ministry. | States that it is usual
"to withdraw the rank previously granted in the cases of
ex-officers enlisting in the Army, during the period covered by such
enlistment, and to restore it on completion of service in the
ranks." No action had been taken so far in Lawrence's case because, it was claimed, Sir Samuel's statement in the House "was the first official intimation that Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence had enlisted". Invites views of the Air Council about the procedure to be adopted. |
| 1929 Mar 26 J.A. Webster (Air Ministry) to the War Office | Replies to the above.
Points out that Hoare's statement was not "the first official
intimation to the Army Council of this officer's enlistment in the Royal
Air Force since [at the time of TEL's transfer in 1925] correspondence
passed between the Adjutant General and the Chief of Air Staff in which
the true circumstances of the case were revealed." Points out that Lawrence has changed his name to Shaw and makes no use of the name Lawrence nor of his commissioned rank. He is not responsible for what journalists write. "The Air Council consider that the withdrawal of his commissioned rank at this date would only make for greater publicity and press comment and they trust that the Army Council will agree to take no further action in the matter." |
T. E. Lawrence chronology
1888 16 August: born at Tremadoc, Wales
1896-1907: City of Oxford High School for Boys
1907-9: Jesus College, Oxford, B.A., 1st Class Hons, 1909
1910-14: Magdalen College, Oxford (Senior Demy), while working at the British Museum's excavations at Carchemish
1915-16: Military Intelligence Dept, Cairo
1916-18: Liaison Officer with the Arab Revolt
1919: Attended the Paris Peace Conference
1919-22: wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1921-2: Adviser on Arab Affairs to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office
1922 August: Enlisted in the Ranks of the RAF
1923 January: discharged from the RAF
1923 March: enlisted in the Tank Corps
1923: translated a French novel, The Forest Giant
1924-6: prepared the subscribers' abridgement of Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1927-8: stationed at Karachi, then Miranshah
1927 March: Revolt in the Desert, an abridgement of Seven Pillars, published
1928: completed The Mint, began translating Homer's Odyssey
1929-33: stationed at Plymouth
1931: started working on RAF boats
1932: his translation of the Odyssey published
1933-5: attached to MAEE, Felixstowe
1935 February: retired from the RAF
1935 19 May: died from injuries received in a motor-cycle crash on 13 May
1935 21 May: buried at Moreton, Dorset