Boyhood of Great Men

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

Boyhood of Great Men

By DONALD COWIE

It was announced in the cable news the other day that Aircraftsman T. E. Shaw had died as a result of injuries received in a motor-cycle accident in England. Aircraftsman T E. Shaw, of course, was the name adopted by the famous Colonel Lawrence of Arabia fame, who, at the conclusion of war and his remarkable contribution to British history, deliberately sought obscurity as a ranker in the Royal Air Force. Descended from a mixed Irish, Hebridearj, Spanish and Norse ancestry, Lawrence was born at Tremadoc, in North Wales, in August, 1888. His father was a famous e ports man; bis mother went eft a few years ago quite unconcernedly to end her days as a missionary in Central China. Lawrence was broueht up in a strictly masculine atmosphere. He had four brothers; as his mother has said: " We could never be bothered with girls in our house." Lawrence tvjjent his childhood in Scotland. the hie, of Man. Jersey, France and Hampshire. He went to school in France, then in Oxford. As a boy in Oxiord it is said -that he took a most precocious interest in archaeology, always being on the spot during the demolition of old buildings or excavations At the age of 13 he began a series of bicycle tours round'Erigland fay himself; then he made eiaht tours of France, studying the cathedrals and castles, and living on'next to nothing. W hen he returned home he preferred to enter by night through an upper window; to avoid his parents' interference | he later built himself a hut in the gar- j den arid slept m ft He made voyages <&{ discovery up all the streams of Oxford in a canoe, and when he had finished with thfcse he began to explore the underground streams. He broke a leg while wrestling with a boy at school, and retured home on si borrowed bicycle without a word oi complaint. He took no interest in organised jgames, just because, he said, they were £0 organised. Bat he became a skilled mechanic, and at the time of his death was a prominent expert on racing cars land motor-cycles. Among other hobbies, However, he taught himself several

LA WHENCE OF ARABIA IS

languages and became an expert in medieval art. When he went up to the University Lawrence refused to read along set lines, and spent most of his time studying French Provencal poetry and medieval Chanson de Geste. As a recreation he indulged in roof-climbmg on the various college buildings. Says a man who knew hire at Oxford: " Once in winter he arrived at my lodgings after midnight and asked me to come bathing. He wanted me to try th? sport of diving through the ice. 1 th night it too dangerous, so be went off alone." When the time arrived for hin. to sit for his degree Lawrence found he had done no work, so he announced he would write a thesis on " The Influence of the Crusades on Medieval Military Architecture of Europe," and to gain material for this be spent several months walking about Palestine and S.vr:a and living on the hospitality of the Syrians. He had two bouts of fever and once was very nearly murdered. He returned to be awarded a first-class degree and a scholarship. A young madman nine out of ten people will Yes, but he was Lawrence of Arabia in the making.