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INTRODUCTIONS
Foreword to the Internet Edtion, 1998
Preliminaries to the 1988 printed edition:
Foreword and Acknowledgments by
Robin Gibson
and Honor Clerk
Author's Note by Jeremy Wilson
Notes and Abbreviations
Foreword to this Internet Edition
The centenary exhibition held by the National Portrait Gallery in London
in 1988-9 was the largest exhibition relating to T. E. Lawrence that has ever been held. Because of
the expertise of the NPG staff, and the gallery's status as a leading national institution,
exhibits were loaned by many public and private collections in Britain and abroad.
Our intention from the outset was that the printed catalogue should be
something more than a permanent record of the exhibition. It was to be, in its own right,
an informative illustrated biography and a useful reference source. By the time
it was completed, it was the most extensively lavishly illustrated book about T.
E. Lawrence ever published.
The catalogue is now out of print, and it has therefore seemed
fitting to make it available on-line. While doing so, I have made a number of
minor corrections, and occasionally added illustrations or close-up details for
which there was no space in the printed edition.
Jeremy Wilson
Foreword and Acknowledgements
The First World War had a devastating effect on the lives of many young Britons who
survived its slaughter; but few emerged from it to find their lives transformed in such an
extraordinary way as did T. E. Lawrence. Qualified for service with Military Intelligence
in Cairo by a series of events arising from his primary interest in archaeology, his
natural taste for adventure and strong sense of moral responsibility involved him in one
of the most bizarre episodes of the war. A unique rapport with the Arabs and intense
conviction of the rightness of their cause made him a natural adviser and later a leading
figure in their fight against the occupying Turks.
Both mentally and physically shattered by his wartime experiences, he returned to
England, disillusioned and unsure of his future to discover, as we can see now, that he
had become one of the earliest victims of the age of the media. Alternately seduced and
appalled by the welter of publicity that surrounded his wartime exploits, his attempts to
seek a future for himself in privacy only compounded press speculation about his
activities. A complex character living in an age still unaware of Freudian analysis, he
never succeeded in reconciling himself with the heroic persona that he had created. It is
nevertheless perhaps as much for his post-war achievements that he should really be
remembered today: his part in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the settlement in
the Middle East, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The Mint, his translation of the Odyssey,
and his work on sea-rescue craft for the RAF.
This celebration of Lawrence's life and achievements falls within the centenary year of
his birth and is the latest in the series of major biographical exhibitions organised by
the National Portrait Gallery over the past twenty-two years. Previous great historical
figures have included Boswell, Pepys, Richard III, Thomas More and, more recently, Handel.
With no specialist knowledge of Lawrence when we started planning the exhibition, we were
soon to find that he made an ideal subject through the sheer volume of visual material
available. Lawrence's patronage of artists, especially for the illustrations for Seven
Pillars of Wisdom, is one aspect of his life that is often overlooked, and he can be
regarded as one of the few important private patrons in Britain this century. Apart from
telling the story of Lawrence's life in as visually interesting a manner as possible, the
exhibition also reassembles as many of the original illustrations for Seven Pillars
as have ever been seen together since they were first exhibited at the Leicester Galleries
in 1927.
We were extremely fortunate in securing both as consultant on the exhibition and writer
of the catalogue the author of the authorised biography of Lawrence, Jeremy Wilson, at a
time when he was in the throes of putting the final touches to his own work. His knowledge
of Lawrence and the documentary sources is encyclopaedic and the exhibition and catalogue
would have been infinitely poorer without his participation. To him and indeed to Nicole
Wilson and the team of research assistants we owe a great debt of gratitude. We must also
thank A.W. Lawrence and the Trustees of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust for their
assistance and permission to display and publish material within their copyright. Our
gratitude is also due to Charles Grosvenor for his assistance in tracing portraits in
private hands and for letting us plunder his iconography, and to Hugh Leach for letting us
plunder his house to decorate the exhibition and for much sensible advice and
encouragement.
To these and to the many lenders and enthusiasts, especially those listed here, our
thanks: the Warden and Librarian of All Souls College, Oxford, St. John Armitage, Dr James
Allan, Arthur MacGregor, Dr Nicholas Penny and Dr Jon Whiteley of the Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford, Nicolas Barker, Richard Benson-Gyles, Jack Flavell and the staff of the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, Colonel Forty of the Bovington Tank Museum, Colonel Bradfer-Lawrence,
Malcolm Brown, Jonathan Cape Ltd, Dr Lionel Dakers, Jack Easton, Mrs Michiko Helstrip,
Penelope Hughes-Stanton, Janet Barrington, Jane Carmichael, Christopher Dowling, Angela
Wright and their colleagues at the Imperial War Museum, the Librarian, Jesus College,
Oxford, Christopher Kennington, Christopher Matheson, Peter and Barbara Metcalfe, Dr
Rupert Chapman of the Palestine Exploration Fund, John Powell, Michael Bott of Reading
University, Sarah and John Roberts, Marinel Fitzsimon of the Royal Society for Asian
Affairs, Arthur Russell, Judith Russell, Emma Smith, John and Eve Sims, Carola Stuart of
the Wessex National Trust and Mrs Joyce Knowles.
At the National Portrait Gallery our thanks go to Joanna Rickards for so efficiently
handling her last task as Gallery Exhibitions Officer, to Gillian Forrester, Sarah Kemp,
Carole Patey, Roger Sheppard, Tessa Cruickshank, Terence Pepper and John Adamson who were
most heavily involved in the often difficult preparations for the exhibition and John Vice
and Jennifer Ramkalawon who undertook valuable research for the catalogue. Special thanks
are due to Martin Shirley of Visible Edge and Paul Gumn of BAS Printers for their untiring
efforts on the catalogue and to Martyn Bainbridge for his impressive setting for the
exhibition. It has been a great pleasure to work with them.
Robin Gibson and Honor Clerk
Author's note
A number of people have contributed substantially to this catalogue, and I take this
opportunity to thank them:
All but one of the introductory essays are drawn from a previously unpublished short
biography of T. E. Lawrence which I wrote in 1986 with Ian Wood, my research assistant
during the two preceding years. The work of writing and revision was shared almost equally
between us, and in particular Ian wrote the first draft of the sections titled
'International Diplomacy' and 'The Last Years'. Our original intention was to produce a
concise, informative, and accurate introductory account of Lawrence's life, and as the
materials for this exhibition were assembled it became clear that just such a text was
needed to provide a biographical context for the exhibits. Some modifications to the draft
have been necessary so as to avoid excessive duplication between the section introductions
and the catalogue descriptions. This adaptation was carried out largely by John Vice and
Martin Rowe, who were also research assistants for parts of the authorised biography.
As the exhibition contains many exhibits relating to Lawrence's Seven Pillars of
Wisdom I have added a further introductory essay, adapted from the text of a talk I
gave in May 1985 to the Oxford Bibliographical Society.
I would also like to acknowledge contributions to the enormous task of compiling
individual catalogue entries. The heads and tails of the entries were drafted by Honor
Clerk and Robin Gibson of the National Portrait Gallery. My responsibility has therefore
been to provide the body.
The text for exhibits connected with the Arab Revolt was researched and drafted by
Vincent Landon and Martin Rowe, and for the most part edited by Jonathan Law; my direct
contribution to this section has been very slight. John Vice helped enormously by
preparing outline drafts for much of the post-war period. In addition, Vincent Landon
researched biographical notes for almost all the portraits shown in the exhibition and
prepared the maps for the two stages of the Arab Revolt.
Johathan Law copy-edited all the section introductions and most of the catalogue
entries. Here, as in the biography, I gladly acknowledge the many improvements he has
suggested.
It would be impossible to list here all the people who have contributed to the
background research that lay behind this catalogue and indeed a large part of the
exhibition. A much fuller list is given in Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised
Biography, to which this catalogue is an illustrated companion. Special thanks,
however, are due to Dr. Lilith Friedman and to my father, Professor Clifford Wilson, for
all their help. Finally, I must thank Robin Gibson, Honor Clerk, and the staff of the
National Portrait Gallery for their enthusiasm, encouragement, patience, and constructive
criticism.
Jeremy Wilson
Contents list for Section I
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