T. E. Lawrence Society

Society weekend in Hay-on-Wye
2022-04-22 - 2022-04-24 | Baskerville Hall Hotel, Clyro Court, Hay-on-Wye, Powys, HR3 5LE, Baskerville Hall Hotel, Clyro Court, Hay-on-Wye, Powys,, Hereford, HR3 5LE
Friday 22 to Sunday 24 April 2022
‎
Hay-on-Wye in the Welsh Borders is widely regarded as the literary capital of the country thanks to its thirty-plus book shops and its famous book festival, held each May. We invite Society members to join us there for a social weekend of lectures, convivial company and an optional tour of Welsh castles.
‎
The weekend will be based at the Baskerville Hall Hotel, Clyro Court, Hay-on-Wye, Powys, HR3 5LE, two – miles from the centre of Hay. Baskerville Hall and a local legend were the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write his famous Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles. The hotel offers a variety of accommodation options, from en-suite double and single rooms to bunk-house beds, and camping in the grounds, all at reasonable prices.
‎
We will have five speakers, an informal dinner on the Saturday evening, and an optional tour of Welsh castles on the Sunday.
‎
For full details, please click here.
‎

‘On the Trail of T.E. Lawrence: 1908-1911’, a talk by Dr Nick Lynch
2022-02-18 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Combined North West Group & Royal Geographical Society event
CHESTER CATHEDRAL – FRIDAY 18th FEBRUARY 2022 @ 7:00 pm – Tickets must be purchased in advance from The Royal Geographical Society website at a special price of £7.50 for Society members. There will be no cash sales on the door.
‘On the Trail of T.E. Lawrence: 1908-1911’, a talk by Dr Nick Lynch
Nick will talk about his journeys following the young Lawrence of Arabia prior to the outbreak of WW1, including cycling the majority of Lawrence’s 2500 mile tour of France.

Lawrence’s hardiness, simple living, and determination, which characterise his role in the Arab Revolt, are already evident in his 2500 mile cycling tour of France in 1908, and his walking tours of Syria in 1909 and southern Turkey in 1911. Nick will talk about following the young Lawrence of Arabia on these three journeys prior to the outbreak of WW1. Use is made of Lawrence’s letters and photographs to make then and now comparisons.
Nick is a trustee and former chairman of the T.E.Lawrence Society and is coordinator of its London Group. His interest in Lawrence dates from the late 1980s. On learning that no-one had previously followed Lawrence’s 1908 Crusader Castles cycle tour of France, he felt that the experience might give him some additional insight into Lawrence’s character and stamina. Nick’s re-tracing of the cycle route was followed in subsequent years by visits to Syria, Turkey, Israel and Jordan. Nick is currently at work on a publication describing these journeys, and detailing the locations of Lawrence’s photographs from this time.

Society AGM, Wednesday 27 October 2021
2021-10-27 20:00 - 22:00 UTC
Our Society AGM 2021 will now be held on Wednesday 27 October at 8pm, rescheduled from 26 September in Oxford. It will be an online event and you can join us on Zoom at 8pm (20 00 UK time) to share news of our past year’s activities, finances and plans for the future.
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CAN ONLY ATTEND THIS MEETING IF YOU ARE A PAID UP MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY
The link for the AGM to be broadcast using Zoom is:
The Society is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: TEL Society AGM
Time: Oct 27, 2021 08:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82075396470?pwd=[REDACTED]

Meeting ID: 820 7539 6470
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Details of candidates standing for Officers’ posts and the Committee, along with a new Agenda, will be posted to you. All documents, including a copy of the Accounts, will be available before the meeting to view on our website Members’ Area, www.telsociety.org.uk.
The Minutes from our 2020 AGM have already been posted to members with the summer 2021 Newsletter and are available here.
We will not be holding an election by ballot this year as the number of candidate equals the posts available. The deadline for nominations has now passed.
Philip Neale, Kevin Winter and Carol Darbyshire are standing for re-election as Officers; Harriet Coates is standing down as Secretary and Anne Pedley has been nominated for this post.
We look forward to welcoming you, and members from across the globe, via Zoom, to our AGM, so do join us to see friends, hear reports from your Society team and to be part of the future of our Society.
Please note that only paid-up members will be allowed to vote at the meeting. Please check you have paid your 2021 subscription. members.secretary@telsociety.org.uk

Lawrence of Arabia: A Life and Legacy
2021-10-17 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
The T. E. Lawrence Society and National World War I Museum and Memorial will offer on Sunday October 17th at 2:00pm Central Daylight Time (8:00pm British Summer Time) the third program in this series: Lawrence of Arabia: Apostle of Irregular Warfare. This topic is timely given the recent events and has been developed to fit within the Museum’s broader theme for the year: ‘Military leaders that led and defined warfare’.

Presentation:
In this presentation Lawrence’s wartime role as leader and innovator in irregular warfare will be explored. It features two presenters who will examine:

The rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire and the progress of World War I throughout the empire from 1914 to 1916.
Lawrence’s role with the Arab Army from 1916 through 1918 that led to the formulation of his theories on irregular warfare as expressed in his writings.
The legacy of T. E. Lawrence as an apostle of revolutionary and unconventional warfare as it is in the twenty-first century.

Presenters:

Brian L. Steed is a retired US Army lieutenant colonel with more than thirty two years of civilian and uniformed experience. He is a practitioner, student, and writer of military theory, Middle East culture, and history. He is an associate professor of military history at the US Army Command and General Staff College and a senior fellow at Narrative Strategies. Brian holds a PhD from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in political science and history.

George Thompson is a historian, writer and lecturer on the First World War. He currently serves as the Coordinator of the North American Group, T. E. Lawrence Society and is member of the Academic Advisory Committee for the National World War One Museum and Memorial. He has over 30 years of experience as a college professor and administrator. Prior to this he was a US Army officer between 1965 and 1972. His current focus is writing, lecturing and developing public programs on the life and legacy of T. E. Lawrence.

Registration for the Presentation:
This video conference is free for Society members and available to the general public, and is hosted by the National World War I Museum and Memorial. To register, please visit the link at: https://my.theworldwar.org/8170
The event will begin promptly at 2:00pm CDT (8:00pm BST) on Sunday October 17, 2021.

One Day Symposium at the site of RAF Calshot on Calshot Spit
2021-09-25 10:30 - 17:00 UTC | SO45 1BR, Calshot Activities Centre, Calshot, SO45 1BR, United Kingdom
It was a real disappointment for everyone in the TE Lawrence Society that we had to cancel our 16th Symposium in Oxford planned for the last weekend in September 2021.
In the meantime we have been keen to provide an alternative event on the same weekend this year and we are pleased to announce an exciting One Day event to be held on Saturday 25th September 2021.
This unique event will be at the Calshot Activities Centre, on Calshot Spit at the site of RAF Calshot in Hampshire, a place intimately connected with Lawrence and his work with the Schneider Trophy Air Races and the development of the 200 Class Seaplane Tender at nearby Hythe.
The TE Lawrence Society has arranged this event with The Army Flying Museum and Hampshire County Council.
The day will feature three presentations related to Lawrence and there will also be a chance to explore Calshot and its sites associated with Lawrence while he was there.
The timeline with presentations is as follows:
10.30 Welcome and Introduction
11.00. Alison Jolley: ‘One brother in India very remarkable’:T. E.’s favourite brother, Will
Last year’s online Symposium opened with Alison looking at Will Lawrence’s service in the Royal Flying Corps. Now she returns to speak on a part of Will’s life which has gone almost unrecognised up to now – his association in Delhi, where he taught at a missionary college before the war, with some of Gandhi’s most significant early supporters. What part were the missionaries at the college about to play in drawing Gandhi into the independence movement, and how would having T.E. as a brother guide Will as he too sought to grasp the spirit of the East?
Alison was previously a speaker at the 2014 Symposium on the friendship between T.E. Lawrence and Lady Kathleen Scott, from whose diary the quotation in the title is taken. Her paper on Will – long recognised as the closest of T.E.’s brothers – appeared in the Spring 2021 edition of the Society’s Journal. Using new material on Will’s RFC service that has emerged since last year’s talk, Alison will conclude with a brief review of these final tragic weeks of his
12.15 A look at some exciting new acquisitions for the Society and for the NT at Clouds Hill and a discussion on the importance of these.
13.00 Lunch Break and a chance to explore Calshot Spit where there are many interesting reminders of Lawrence’s time there.
14.30 Group Captain John Alexander: Hot Air, Aeroplanes and Arabs; Lawrence and Air Power
The ever-expanding Lawrence literature overlooks the link between his concept of warfare and subsequent choice of the RAF for enlistment. Lawrence’s fame stemmed from the cultural difference between his romantic heroism in the desert and the industrial warfare on the Western Front. Yet pare away the myth and enigma of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ using historical analysis of the official archives and a re-reading of Seven Pillars of Wisdom and one finds a novel insight of Lawrence as a proponent of air power and a strikingly modern way in warfare, using machines rather than men, and combining aeroplanes and armoured cars with Arab regulars and irregulars. The experience lay behind Lawrence’s subsequent post-war support of the use of air power for colonial control in Iraq and probably influenced his choice of the RAF for enlistment.
John’s forty-year career in the Royal Air Force and is well placed to talk about Lawrence as he spent two years seconded as an advisor to an Arab force; served in the Hejaz, Iraq and Pakistan; was a visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford; and speaks poor Arabic. Unlike Lawrence, Alexander accepted a commission in the RAF’s ground fighting force, a civil service appointment to write RAF official history, and has spent several years in Afghanistan.
15.45 Vintage film from the archives and a look around Calshot
16.00 Paul Beaver: Lawrence, Calshot and the Schneider Trophy
This discussion will explore Lawrence’s connections with Calshot and Hythe and particularly his work in the ranks on the Schneider Trophy Air Race in 1929. Paul will look a the local angles to the story and much of this has often been overlooked by historians. He will bring a particular insight based on his aviation experience.
Paul Beaver is an aviation historian, broadcaster and writer who is very much a hands-on historian with his own vintage aeroplane company. He is also a Society member and Trustee of the Supermarine Seaplane Charity and has contributed many interesting talks and discussions to the Army Flying Museum programme.
17.00 – 17.30 Close
The cost for the day is £40 with a buffet lunch and £30 without a buffet lunch.
There are only 50 tickets available for Society members to attend the day at Calshot and if you wish to book a place, please e mail our Chairman, Philip Neale at telsocchair@gmail.com before Sunday 19th September 2021. You will then be provided with details on how to pay and more details for the day can be supplied.
The day will also be available LIVE as an on-line broadcast on the day, at a cost of £15 and a link with payment details can be found at:
https://armyflying.com/what-s-on/lockdown-lectures/t-e-lawrence-symposium-2021/

Lawrence’s Birthday at Moreton
2021-08-16 11:00 - 14:00 UTC | Moreton, DT2 8RH
Join us at Moreton cemetery at 11.00 a.m. to celebrate Lawrence’s birthday and afterwards at The Walled Garden formal gardens and Dovecote Cafe.
If you re attending please contact:susan@susanvincent.org

Lawrence of Arabia - Legacy Lecture Series Part II
2021-07-25 20:00 UTC
The second presentation in a series of ZOOM based lectures organised by the North American group of the TE Lawrence Society, from the National WW1 Museum and Memorial
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA LEGACY LECTURES
https://my.theworldwar.org/8170/8709

Please note that pre-registration is required and the vent is free

The vent is at 2.00 pm US CT and 8.00 pm BST

Wemyss’ War, a British Admiral on land and sea
2021-07-11 20:00 UTC
This is a Zoom based talk hosted by the National WW1 Museum and Memorial.
It is presented by John Johnson-Allen, talking about his new book on ‘Rosy’ Wemyss. John will be talking further about Wemyss at the Society Symposium in September
WEMYSS’ WAR, A BRITISH ADMIRAL ON LAND AND SEA
https://my.theworldwar.org/8703/8704

Please note that the event is at 2.00 pm US CT and 8pm BST

Pre registration is required and the vent is FREE

T E Lawrence: An Unusual Genius
2021-05-11 19:30 - 20:30 UTC
A presentation to the Edmonton Conservative Association, London, looking at Lawrences fascinating life, his unusual behaviour and the genius he showed throughout his life before the war, during the Arab Revolt and afterwards with his literary and artistic achievements. His legacy will also be explored in relation to our current times.
Our Society chairman Philip Neale will present this illustrated lecture and information can be obtained from telsocchair@gmail.com

T E Lawrence and Jim Ede: A Friendship explored
2021-04-21 18:00 - 19:00 UTC
An Online Talk:
Jim Ede and T.E. Lawrence: A Friendship explored
Wednesday 21 April, 6 -7pm
£10 Friends, £5 students, booking required

Join the Friends of Kettle’s Yard and Phil Neale, who works at Kettles Yard and Chair of the T.E. Lawrence Society, for an online talk exploring the friendship and correspondence between Jim Ede and T.E. Lawrence, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and their mutual interest in art and literature, as well as their memories of India.
Jim Ede said in his book A Way of Life that he could never have given away Kettle’s Yard without the example set by Lawrence. The talk will look at their correspondence, Jim’s long document about Lawrence written following his death in 1935 and books in the Kettle’s Yard collection.
Find out more and book your ticket here

Lawrence of Arabia: A Life and Legacy
2021-04-18 20:00 - 21:00 UTC
In 2021 the North American Group of the T. E. Lawrence Society and the National WWI Museum and Memorial will launch a series of public Zoom presentations entitled ‘Lawrence of Arabia: A Life and Legacy’. The first will be on Sunday, 18 April at 2:00pm US-Central Standard Time, featuring Joseph Berton, Lorraine Tinsley and John Calvert exploring ‘His role in shaping the Modern Middle East’.

This presentation is timely for its relevance with the centenary of the 1921 Cairo Conference, which was a milestone for Lawrence and produced a legacy that had an impact on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Questions to be explored, during the session, include:

How did Lawrence’s pre-war experiences prepare him for his leadership role in World War I?

What political factors did he have to deal with, and how did they affect the military campaign an Arabia?

What did Lawrence and Feisal hope to accomplish at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and how successful were they?

How did Lawrence’s political lobbying during the Mesopotamian Revolt in 1920 set the stage for the Cairo Conference of 1921?

Were Feisal and Lawrence’s ambitions realized by the Cairo Conference?

To what extent was the Cairo Conference responsible for the political instability that engulfed the region over the ensuing decades?

The video conference is free for Society members and available to the general public. It will be broadcast from the USA at CST 2 pm which is 8pm BST in the UK and is hosted by the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Pre-registration is required, please visit:
www.theworldwar.org/events.

===
Note: The ‘events’ page is not yet showing this meeting. The direct link to the registration page is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6416144393787/WN_pq43n1GcQ7i2ozi3zf7SDQ]

Churchill and the Making of the Modern Middle East
2021-04-08 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
The International Churchill Society has a series of lectures on Thursday 8th April 2021 at 17.00.
ICS Virtual Symposium – featuring speakers Dr Warren Dockter, Professor Arie Dubnov, Dr Robert Johnson, Dr Liora Lukitz and others.
To book a ticket on EventBrite with donations see:

https://winstonchurchill.org/2021-events-calendar/

In March 1921 Winston Churchill, as the newly appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies, chaired a conference in Cairo that was to have profound effects on the future of the region. Drawing on advice from TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and Gertrude Bell, Churchill presided over the creation of modern day Iraq and Jordan and supported the expansion of the Jewish presence in Palestine. The conference was followed by a visit to Jerusalem.

T E Lawrence and Wagner, a Webinar by Zoom
2021-02-10 18:30 - 20:00 UTC
The Wagner Society have joined forces with the Lawrence Society to present a Zoom Webinar where TEL Society members can join at the same rate (£5) as Wagner Society members – otherwise the charge is £10 for non-members.

https://wagnersociety.org/events/te-lawrence-and-wagner/

Details are:

Wednesday 10 February 2021, 6:30pm (UK time)

Martin Gething, Susan Vincent and Neill Child talking about

T. E. Lawrence’s love of classical music, including Wagner
The record collection at Clouds Hill and his books on classical music
Lawrence’s love of Nordic mythology and medievalism, which provided a bond with Richard Wagner’s music
How Lawrence, Thomas Hardy and Rutland Boughton tried to create the British Bayreuth

Pre-registration is required to join the Zoom talk, through the Wagner Society website.T E Lawrence and Wagner

David George Hogarth - a conference organised by Magdalen College, Oxford
2021-01-23 09:30 - 16:30 UTC
Magdalen College Archives would like to invite all Society members to a virtual conference on the British archaeologist, intelligence officer and author David George Hogarth (1862-1927). Hogarth’s papers were donated to Magdalen College by his family in late 2019; the College will publish a catalogue of the collection early next year.

The conference will take place via Zoom on Saturday 23 January 2021; please email archives@magd.ox.ac.uk to register your interest.

David Hogarth was a distinguished field archaeologist of Greece, Asia Minor and the Middle East and the Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum from 1909 to 1927. He was a friend and mentor to T.E. Lawrence: Lawrence’s first archaeological post was on Hogarth’s dig at Carchemish on the Turco-Syrian border; during WW1 the two men worked together at the Arab Bureau, where Hogarth was a senior officer and organiser. After the war, Hogarth was an adviser to the British delegation at the Paris Peace Conference.

Most of Hogarth’s papers have been held by his family since his death. They will now be publicly accessible for the first time. The collection includes a large volume of personal correspondence with his family and with renowned figures of the time including T.E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell. There are also archaeological and academic papers, and records and memorabilia of his war work.

Scheduled to speak are:

Professor Caroline Barron, David Hogarth’s granddaughter and donor of his papers
James Barr, author on the Arab Revolt and the making of the modern Middle East
Dr Bruce Westrate, historian of the Arab Bureau
Antonis Kotsonas, Assistant Professor of Mediterranean History and Archaeology, New York University
Ben Taylor, Hogarth Project Archivist at Magdalen College, Oxford
Dr Hussein Omar, Lecturer in Modern Global History, University College Dublin
Adam Fraser, archaeologist of the Middle East and North Africa
Lorraine Tinsley, Gertrude Bell researcher, University of Western Ontario

Insider Tours: Jim Ede and T E Lawrence: A Friendship
2020-12-05 10:00 - 10:45 UTC
This Insider Tour of Kettle’s Yard and its collection, in Cambridge, will explore the friendship and correspondence between Jim Ede and T.E. Lawrence, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and their mutual interest in art and literature, as well as their memories of India. Jim Ede said in his book ‘A Way of Life’ that he could never have left and given away Kettle’s Yard without the example set by Lawrence. The tour will look at their correspondence, Jim’s long document about Lawrence written following his death in 1935 and books in the collection. Reference documents from a private collection relating to Lawrence will complement the tour.
£50 per group of up to 6 people, booking required at
www.kettles yard.cam.ac.uk

Your ticket covers one group, of up to six people. You will be the only group on the tour.
If you are not well please stay at home and cancel you ticket by emailing mail@kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk.
Find out more about visiting us safely here.
In keeping with government advice you must wear a face mask or face covering for the duration of the tour unless you are exempt. You can find out more about exemptions here.
Due to conservation and security reasons, no bags, including handbags, or large coats are allowed in the House. Please leave bags at home where possible. If you do bring a bag it will be kept behind the desk until your House visit is complete.

One Day Symposium
2020-09-26 10:00 - 16:30 UTC
On 26th September 2020, we will broadcasting our first virtual Symposium across the World Wide Web. We have 4 presentations and are pleased to announce:
Alison Jolley, ‘Consumed with a wild patriotism’: Will Lawrence in the Royal Flying Corps
Dr. Rob Johnson, Lawrence of Arabia’s War, the campaign in the desert.
John Johnson Allen, ‘The Best Years of my Life’, Lawrence’s maritime achievements.
Charlotte Berry, Ben Taylor and Lucy Smith, Magdalen College Archives. The archivists will take us through the latest developments with the Lawrence, Hogarth and Jeremy Wilson archives.
The video/sharing platform is being finalised and the start time will be 10.00 UK Summer time ( 09.00 GMT)
Further details will be updated as soon as possible and all participants who register will be e mailed details of how to participate. There will be Q&A sessions and the day will finish with an interactive session and the Society’s AGM.
Please e mail telsocchair@gmail.com to register your interest and receive further updates

The Man with the Gold, by Jan Woolf
2019-11-25 19:30 - 22:00 UTC | christs hospital school, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 0LJ, United Kingdom
Jan Woolf has developed a full-length centenary play The Man With the Gold, from three readings that have taken place at Newark Civil War Museum, 28 January 2017; St John’s College, Oxford, 23 September 2016 and at the Cockpit Theatre, London, January 2016. Jan Woolf’s new play conjures the person of Lawrence from the grave, giving him the chance to address us directly and debunk the myth industry which conscripted his ghost so lucratively. Join the Drama and Classics Departments for a reading of the play followed by a Q & A with Jan about her experience as writer- in-residence with the Great Arab Revolt archaeological dig in Jordan in 2013, which inspired The Man With the Gold
At the Court Room, Christ Hospital
Adults: £5.00, Concession £4.00
Tickets at : boxoffice@christs-hospital.org.uk or 01403 247434

London Group visit to Reading Station and environs
2019-11-23 | Reading Railway Station, United Kingdom
A centenary search for the missing manuscript of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, lost by T E Lawrence at Reading Station, whilst changing trains. Join the London Group for an interesting day exploring the area and learning more about this well known story.

NW Group Visit to Rickaro Books and Horbury, Wakefield
2019-11-16 | horbury, wakefield, WF4 5AB, United Kingdom
You are invited to a private view of impressive Lawrence memorabilia, hosted by collector Richard Knowles, with the opportunity to browse his bookshop in historic Horbury, Wakefield
Many of you know Richard, as he runs the Symposium bookshop and offers an excellent selection of Lawrence books. During our visit he will share his private collection of Lawrence books and artefacts which reflects his long-standing interest in Lawrence. Places are limited so BOOK NOW!
Meet at 11am at Rickaro Books, 17 High Street, Horbury, Wakefield WF4 5AB. Richard will show us a selection of his Lawrence material, including letters and original photographs, and answer questions. We will have time to browse the extensive general selection of second-hand and new books. There are coffee-shops nearby if you arrive early, and parking well signed. We will have lunch at a local café before Richard leads our walking tour of Horbury, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and has an elegant John Carr church of 1790, the Carnegie Free Library begun in 1905 and an early lock-up (jail).
The cost for the day will be £5 per person, payable on the day, plus whatever you might be tempted to spend in the bookshop.
To reserve your place, please contact Harriet Coates on hon.secretary@telsociety.org.uk or phone 07973 916371.

Society Day and AGM in Greenwich
2019-09-27 11:00 - 16:00 UTC | greenwich, dreadnought walk, london, United Kingdom
Our Society AGM Day this year will be in Greenwich, London, on 27th September 2019. In the morning we are guests of the Palestine Exploration Fund as we view their varied collection of Lawrence memorabilia. After a buffet lunch together (cost included), we will share Society news and plans in our Annual General Meeting.
We invite you to join us for what promises to be a most enjoyable and interesting day. The PEF was founded in 1865 and is the oldest organisation in the world created specifically for the study of the Old Levant. The PEF recently moved to a lovely waterfront location on the Thames and they now have much more space to view their important collections as well as an impressive reference library, including those relating to Lawrence. They offer membership and host regular lectures and events in London and beyond; explore their website at www.pef.org.uk. PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP.
Greenwich, is steeped in history and famous as the home of the 19th century ship Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum, Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory. Members may wish to make a weekend visit as there is so much to see and do.
www.rmg.co.uk/visit-greenwich/top-10-/things-to-do
www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/london-areas/greenwich
Our programme for the day:
11 00 Meet at P.E.F headquarters, overlooking the River Thames
11 15 Tour of PEF, with Lawrence-related artefacts and documents on show
13 00 Buffet lunch at The Sail Loft, 11 Victoria Parade, Greenwich
14 30 Annual General Meeting, in The Sail Loft
16 00 Closing discussions and refreshments
The day is open to members and their guests. We look forward to welcoming new members and established Society supporters at our special gathering. Numbers for the PEF visit are limited, so book early, and the cost of £15 per person includes lunch. All members are welcome to attend the afternoon AGM.

Please complete and return the form below – by email to
Hon.secretary@telsociety.org.uk or by post to TELS, PO Box 728, Oxford OX2 9ZJ
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
I wish to attend the Society Day in Greenwich on Friday 27th September 2019
Name:………………………………………..
Email or address: ……………………………… Telephone:
Dietary requirements:
Please select method of payment:
I enclose a cheque for £15, payable to The T E Lawrence Society
I will pay by bank transfer to The T E Lawrence Society,
at HSBC 40-03-04 A/c 61447327
IBAN: [REDACTED], BIC: HBUKGB4B, Branch: HBUKGB4106J
I will pay by Paypal via the website

NW Group visit to Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum, Wrexham
2019-09-10 10:30 - 17:00 UTC | wrexham, United Kingdom
The North West Group of the T E Lawrence Society are invited to visit the Reserve Collection of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum Trust at Wrexham Museum on Tuesday 10th September, 2019.
Wrexham Museum opens at 10.00 am and members should arrive by 10.30 am.
The morning session will concentrate on the archive’s collection relating to Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon and Walter Brook of the 25th Battalion, RWF, who Lawrence immortalised as “Stokes” in his memoirs and will look at the Regiment’s part in the war in the Middle East.
The Museum has a superb café where lunch can be taken.
A talk by Mrs Anne Pedley will be given in the afternoon on Lt Col C H M Doughty-Wylie, VC, whose connection with Gertrude Bell was discussed at last year’s Symposium.
There will be ample time after the talk to have a look around Wrexham’s wonderful museum or for a discussion on the day’s events.
The Museum is very near to Wrexham General station and regular trains run from Chester and the Midlands. For those arriving by car, there is a multi-storey car park next to the Museum.
There will be a £3.00 charge to members on the day to help cover the speaker’s travel expenses.
For enquiries please contact Andrew Wright by email: andrewwright8117@hotmail.com

Anniversary of Lawrence's death
2019-05-19 11:00 - 11:30 UTC | Moreton Cemetary, BH20 7NQ, United Kingdom
There will be the usual small ceremony at Lawrence’s graveside in Moreton, with flowers and a reading. All are welcome and it is likely there will be some Brough’s present also.

Society Lawrence Collection on show
2019-05-18 09:30 - 12:00 UTC | Wareham Library, wareham, Dorset, United Kingdom
The Society Lawrence collection of books and documents will be on show at Wareham Library on Saturday 18th May between 09.30 am and 12.00 pm. This collection was moved to Wareham Library some years back for safe keeping following a requirement to move from Oxford Library.

Lawrence's air accident of 1919 in Rome
2019-05-17 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | Protestant cemetery, rome, Italy
This year marks 100 years since Lawrence’s air accident in Rome, where the pilots Prince and Spratt died –
A commemoration will be held at the Protestant Cemetery, in Rome on Friday 17 May at 11.00 am local time.
More information from Amanda Thursfield, director of the cemetery = direttore@cemeteryrome.it and from Nicholas Stanley Price =
nstanleyprice@tiscali.it

London Group visit to Liddell Hart Archive
2019-05-01 | kings college, Strand, London, United Kingdom
The Liddell Hart archive houses many papers and photos related to Liddell Hart and Lawrence. It is housed at Kings College in London.

North West England Group visit to Staffordshire
2019-03-22 10:00 - 17:00 UTC | RAF Stafford, Beaconside, Stafford, ST18 0AQ, United Kingdom
T E LAWRENCE SOCIETY – ‘NORTH WEST GROUP’ DAY IN STAFFORDSHIRE
– FRIDAY 22nd MARCH 2019
SCHEDULE
Visit to RAF Stafford/ Beacon Barracks for an appointment at 10:00 am to see the ‘RAF Museum Reserve Collection’. We will be able to see Lawrence’s gramophone record collection and get a general overview of the ‘Reserve Collection’ which serves the RAF Museums at Hendon and Cosford. One of our members who is attending has an extensive knowledge of the record collection.
RAF STAFFORD (Formerly Beacon Barracks), BEACONSIDE, STAFFORD, ST18 0AQ – It is proposed that we all meet at the main gate entrance at 9:45 am to gather and in order to pass security and make our way to the Reserve Collection site in time for 10:00 am. We will likely be at RAF Stafford for two hours or so. It is then proposed that we drive our vehicles to The Spiders Web Café which is about one mile from RAF Cosford Museum. This drive from Stafford could take about 45 mins.
Lunch at 12:45 pm or so at ‘The Spiders Web Café’ SYDNAL LANE, ALBRIGHTON, WV7 3NB . Or bring a packed lunch.
We will then have to be at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford where we will have a group guided tour of the Museum arranged. NB. The Museum is free to enter generally but there will be a charge to TEL members of £5.00 per person to cover the cost of the guided tour. There is also parking charges at the Museum. Our tour lasts from 2:00 pm till 5:00 pm. Our tour covers: The National Cold War Exhibition/Test Flight/War in the Air.
RAF MUSEUM, COSFORD, SHIFNAL, SHROPSHIRE, TF11 8UP.
NB// There are only 12 places for RAF Stafford and 15 places for the RAF Museum Cosford guided tour.

Memories from the Front Line
2019-02-28 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Knowledge Centre The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB, United Kingdom
Memoirs the Great War from Britain, France and Germany

In the years following the Great War of 1914-18 numerous memoirs of the war were published in Britain, France and Germany, some becoming bestsellers. This talk by Jerry Palmer explores some of the most significant, such as Blunden’s Undertones of War, Barbusse’s Under Fire and Jünger’s Storm of Steel and how they contributed to the collective memory and opinion of the war.
The talk looks at the texts as autobiography and historical reporting, as fact sometimes blurred with fiction. It also considers the works by soldiers, nurses, civilians and dissenters.
Jerry Palmer is the author of Memories from the Front Line: Memoirs and Meanings of The Great War from Britain, France and Germany, which follows six other books and many articles on popular culture and the mass media. He is former books editor for Time Out magazine, Professor of Communications, London Metropolitan University and Visiting Professor of Sociology, City University.

Lecture: Lawrence of Arabia: Romantic, Orientalist, and Western Cultural Artefact
2018-12-19 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Council for British Research in the Levant, 10 Carlton House Terrace, Londson, SW1Y 5AH
T E Lawrence played a central role in the outcome of the First World War in the Middle East. His own testimony in his famous war memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom has now been ground-truthed by a ten-year archaeological field project. This provides a firmer base for examining his character, achievements, celebrity status, and endless cultural reconfiguration over the last century. These matters remain highly problematic, since Lawrence himself was both a Romantic and an Orientalist, and the many biographers, dramatists, and commentators who have contributed to his enduring fame have used his story to ‘imagine’ the Middle East in specifically Western ways. For a century, the evolving legend of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ has reflected a distorted Western perspective on the region, its people, and its conflicts. This lecture will attempt to critique both T E Lawrence the historical actor and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ the cultural construct as products of Western imperialism.

Dr Neil Faulkner FSA is an archaeologist, historian, writer, political commentator, and occasional broadcaster. He is the author of countless articles, numerous papers, and a dozen books, including, most recently, Lawrence of Arabia’s War (2017) and A Radical History of the World (2018). He has directed field projects in Britain, Jordan, and elsewhere, including the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project in north-west Norfolk, and the Great Arab Revolt Project in southern Jordan. He wrote the ‘script’ for the successful exhibition Shifting Sands: Lawrence of Arabia and the Great Arab Revolt at Newark’s National Civil War Centre. He is currently setting up projects at Cassino in Italy, to investigate the Second World War battlefield, and at Almeria in Spain, to investigate the archaeology of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia film locations.
This event is open to all and free to attend, donations welcome towards CBRL’s Post-Graduate Travel Grants.
Seating is unreserved – the lecture room seats 120.

Exhibition: Lawrence of Oxford at Magdalen College
2018-11-07 - 2019-05-01
Magdalen Libraries and Archives are delighted to announce the opening of our new exhibition. Lawrence of Oxford, opening to the public on 7 November in the Old Library, marks the culmination of two years’ intensive collecting around one of Magdalen’s most celebrated Old Members, T.E. Lawrence (better known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’). It is a little-known fact that Lawrence was elected to a Senior Demyship at Magdalen in late 1910, and trained as an archaeologist on a British Museum dig in northern Syria as a member of the College until 1914 when the war broke out.
Co-curated by Dr. Rory McCarthy (Fellow by Examination) and Daryl Green (Librarian), Lawrence of Oxford will explore the influence Magdalen and Oxford had on this enigmatic figure’s early life. It will look at his efforts in the Arab campaign during the First World War, and his later political involvement with the region. It will also examine his work as an author, and those in Oxford whom he directly influenced. New display cases in the Old Library have allowed us, for the first time, to loan in items of national significance from institutions and private collections. The cases will feature archaeological remains excavated by Lawrence, stamps designed by Ronald Storrs and Lawrence for the independent Hejaz state, original manuscripts and letters from Lawrence, maps which influenced Lawrence’s career (as well as those drawn by him), letters and medals from fellow Arabist Sir Wilfred Thesiger, and much more. There will also be some exhibits owned by the Lawrence Society in view, such as Lawrence’s camera.
The exhibition will open to the public on 7 November 2018 and will run until 1 May 2019. The exhibition in the Old Library is normally open on Wednesday afternoons from 2-4:30pm, however private viewings and group tours can be arranged by appointment. A series of events have been programmed to run concurrently with the exhibition (details below). Please contact library@magd.ox.ac.uk to RSVP (events are free but seat reservations are essential).

“Lawrence of Oxford” events

(all events start at 5.30pm, and will take place in the Summer Common Room unless stated otherwise)

5 November 2018
Grand Opening, with talks by curators Dr Rory McCarthy and Daryl Green
21 January 2019
Lecture by Juliet Desplat (Head, Modern Overseas Intelligence and Security Records, The National Archives)
18 February 2019
Lecture by Emma Sky, OBE (Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University)
7 March 2019
Lecture by Anthony Sattin (journalist and author of Young Lawrence)
2 May 2019

T E Lawrence Society Symposium 2018
2018-09-21 - 2018-09-23 | St John’s College, St John's College, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3JP, United Kingdom
15th Symposium of the T. E. Lawrence Society
St John’s College, Oxford
Friday 21 to Sunday 23 September 2018
Commemorated the end of the Arab Revolt with the taking of Damascus in 1918
Another successful and very well attended Symposium in the beautiful surroundings of St Johns College, Oxford. In fact we had the largest attendance of delegates ever, at this symposium.
We linked up with Magdalen College, who presented a unique exhibition and talk on their expanding archives on Lawrence.
We also had a whole afternoon devoted to Gertrude Bell and her friendship with Lawrence, together with her influence on the Middle East. The directors of the film Letters from Baghdad will presented and answered questions about the making of this fascinating documentary. The Gertrude Bell Archive director from Newcastle University also described the massive collection held there.
Other fascinating presentations included the forgotten colleagues of Lawrence who supported the Arab Revolt, portraits of Lawrence, the Hejaz and armoured cars, Lawrence’s other war beyond the Revolt, what Germany and Austria thought about Lawrence, and the military medals awarded to Lawrence.
The programme for the 2018 Symposium can be viewed HERE.

A summary of programmes from each of the past Symposia can be viewed HERE.
St John’s College, Oxford, 2016
St John’s College, Oxford, 2014
St Hilda’s College, Oxford, 2012
St John’s College, Oxford, 2010
St John’s College, Oxford, 2008
St John’s College, Oxford, 2006
St John’s College, Oxford, 2004
Exeter College, Oxford, 2002
St John’s College, Oxford, 2000
Santa Clara University, California, 2000
St John’s College, Oxford, 1998
St Hilda’s College, Oxford, 1996
Magdalen and St Hilda’s Colleges, Oxford, 1994
Jesus College, Oxford, 1992
Jesus College, Oxford, 1990
……………………………………………………………………………
Photo of Jesus College, Oxford © Bencherlite via Wikimedia Commons
