Detail from a photograph by ? Edgar Francis Hall (1910)

When Lord Haldane became Secretary of State for War in 1905 he undertook an important series of army reforms. One of his initiatives was to start an Officers Training Corps at British universities. Lawrence was among the first to volunteer for the Oxford University OTC which was formed in October 1908.

Little is known about Oxford OTC training at that date, but his later comments suggest that nothing he learned proved of significant value to him during the war. He must, however, have practiced rifle shooting.

This photograph was taken during the OTC camp held on Salisbury Plain in the summer of 1910, which Lawrence attended after taking his final examinations.

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