unpublished memoir of te lawrence in the tank corps
LAWRENCE, T.E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom. together with unpublished source material on the author. London, Jonathan Cape, [1935].
The first trade edition with two typed and signed documents tipped in onto upper paste-downs. DOLEY, Francis J. ‘Lawrence in the Tank Corps’. [c. 1941]. Foolscap folio, 3pp. Carbon-copied typescript on rectos only with occasional manuscript corrections; a few light spots, folded, otherwise in very good condition. [and:] MARTIN, C. W. Typed note, signed. Royal Hospital Chelsea, 1941. 8vo, one p. with printed letterhead; folded, minimal traces of oxidation from paperclip.
A remarkable unpublished memoir of Lawrence’s service in the Tank Corps by a fellow soldier. T.E. Lawrence began making notes on his role in the Arab Revolt towards the end of World War I, and much of the first draft of Seven Pillars of Wisdom was written in early 1919. A third draft was written in 1921-1922, which was printed between January and July 1922 on the presses of the Oxford Times in an edition of eight copies for Lawrence’s use (the ‘Oxford’ edition). These copies were circulated to Lawrence’s friends and former comrades for their criticism, and he began work on revising the text, which would eventually be published in 1926 in a significantly shorter version. On 30 August 1922 T.E. Lawrence enlisted in the RAF as an Airman, 2nd Class under the assumed name of John Hulme Ross. Unfortunately, Lawrence’s celebrity and his rather casual approach to concealing his identity – Wilson remarks that ‘Lawrence seemed to be inviting exposure’ and notes that he ‘had written a tantalising letter about his secret enlistment to his acquaintance R.D. Blumenfeld, editor of the Daily Express’ (Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T.E. Lawrence (London, 1989) pp. 689-690) – failed to prevent his exposure in the Daily Express on 27 December 1922, which led to his dismissal from the RAF a few weeks later. Both politicians and senior officers in the service were extremely reluctant to permit Lawrence to re-join the RAF, so he sought alternatives and the War Office agreed to Lawrence joining the Tank Corps as a private soldier. Lawrence enlisted under the name ‘T.E. Shaw’ (which he chose as the ‘first one-syllabled name’ he came across in a copy of the Army List (Lawrence of Arabia, p. 710), and on 12 March 1923 he arrived at Bovington Camp in Dorset to begin the 18-week programme of basic training, remaining at the camp until the summer of 1925 when he was permitted to rejoin the RAF. During his two years in the Tank Corps Lawrence rented the cottage at Clouds Hill (which he would buy and would become his home for the remainder of his life), met and formed a friendship with Thomas Hardy (whose home, Max Gate, was a short motorcycle ride away from Bovington), and made significant progress with the final text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. This typescript memoir – which cannot be traced in O’Brien or any of the other standard sources and appears to be unpublished – was written, according to the covering note, by F.J. Doley ‘a contemporary in the Royal Tank Corps at Bovington Camp […] serving as Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant’. Doley (who died in c. 1952), explains that Lawrence’s ‘singularity as a private soldier was caused by the strange privileges he enjoyed. These privileges initially caused so much unusual comment in the hutted camp and Sergeants Messes as to make his appearance in any place a cause for “gawping” (gawping – a silent wide eyed watchfulness)’, and the granting of permission to ‘live out’ (i.e. outside the camp) was also very unusual. On one occasion Lawrence returned to the base late and when he was questioned about the breach of discipline, ‘he apologised for being late returning “after dinner in town with Winston Churchill”. The case was remanded for the [Commanding Officer], but no witnesses were called and nothing further was heard’. Nonetheless, once Lawrence ‘was safely filed in-to the Quartermaster's Office for work and installed at Cloud’s Hill for other purposes, life on the Barrack Square and at Company Office reverted to normal and the general situation was accepted’. Doley also discusses Lawrence’s literary associates at the camp, who ‘formed a sort of scribblers club […] with Shaw’s cottage as H.Q.’, and recounts an occasion on which he was introduced to Lawrence by one of these associates, CSM H.H. Banbury: ‘I have no outstanding impressions about Shaw at that meeting. He was quiet, natural, and his subjects of conversation were general calling for no comment. His eyes twinkled on meeting Banbury. The twinkle was most noticeable when he met anyone he knew. It seemed to be his method of shewing recognition’. The memoir notes that ‘Banbury received one of the first hundred unabridged copies of the “Seven Pillars”’ (in a letter to Banbury of 20 April 1927, Lawrence asked ‘didn’t you read The Seven Pillars at Bovington?’ (D. Garnett (ed.), The Letters of T.E. Lawrence (London, 1938), p. 514), and Banbury would later contribute a memoir of its author to A.W. Lawrence (ed.), T.E. Lawrence by His Friends (London, 1937). Doley’s memoir concludes ‘I last saw Shaw (Lawrence) sitting astride his latest Brough Superior (he had a new one each year), well muffled up, eyes twinkling as he saw me, on his way to London or environs to meet that other Shaw – George Bernard. Did he take the name of Shaw because of his friendship with G.B.S.?’
Provenance: David H.M. Lambert (ownership inscription and bookplate on front free endpaper of Seven Pillars.
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