Lawrence of Oxford

And so to one of the lesser-known, and certainly more difficult to find, memorials to TEL in Oxford. His parents and elder brother Bob are buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, a mile or so north of the family home. The inscription on the curb stone reads 'In memory of F H & W G Lawrence, killed in action, 1915, and of their father who died April 8, 1919'. And on the other side, 'Also of T E Lawrence who died May 19, 1935, and of their mother who died November 15, 1959, aged 98'. The story has come full circle with this inscription, and in death the mother and father lay no claim to the name of Lawrence which they had assumed so many years before. Bob's grave is diagonally adjacent, but is unmarked by any memorial. Bob died in 1971 at the age of 86.

This family group is probably the last taken before the older boys finally went their separate ways. It dates from late 1910, and the end of TEL's years as a student. From left to right we see TEL, Frank, Arnold, Bob and Will. Bob qualified as a doctor at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1915, and he subsequently joined with his mother in missionary work in China. Within five years both Will and Frank were dead, victims of the Great War, and only Arnie, at the time of this photograph 10 years old, remained at home. For TEL, Oxford days were at an end. Arabia - and his destiny - awaited.