Photograph of T.E. Lawrence dated 1931. Thomas Edward Lawrence (August 16, 1888 - May 19, 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916-18, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia. He studied history at Jesus College, graduating with First Class Honors. He became a practicing archeologist in the Middle East, working at various excavations with David George Hogarth and Leonard Woolley. In 1908 he joined the Oxford University Officer Training Corps, undergoing a two year training course. In January 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence was co-opted by the British Army to undertake a military survey of the Negev Desert while doing archeological research. His public image resulted in part from the sensationalized reportage of the revolt by an American journalist, Lowell Thomas, as well as from Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922). In 1935, he was fatally injured in a motorbike crash and died at the age of 46.
