A. W. Lawrence facts for kids
Arnold Walter Lawrence (born May 2, 1900 – died March 31, 1991) was a British expert on ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and buildings. He was a professor of Classical Archaeology at Cambridge University in the 1940s. In the early 1950s, he started what became the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board in Accra. He also founded the National Museum of Ghana. Arnold was the youngest brother of T. E. Lawrence, known as "Lawrence of Arabia." He also managed his famous brother's writings after he died.
Growing Up
Arnold Lawrence was born in Oxford, England, on May 2, 1900. He was the youngest of five sons. His parents were Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner, but they used the names "Thomas Robert Lawrence" and "Sarah Lawrence." His older brother, T. E. Lawrence, later became very famous as "Lawrence of Arabia." Arnold and T.E. were very close.
The Lawrence children grew up in Oxford. Their mother was very religious. Arnold, however, had strong views against religion. He went to the City of Oxford High School for Boys. Later, he studied at New College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in Classical Archaeology. He had originally wanted to study South American archaeology, but no university in Britain offered that course.
Arnold Lawrence continued his studies in Rome and Athens from 1921 to 1926. In 1923, he worked on an archaeological dig in Ur. This dig was led by Leonard Woolley. Interestingly, his brother T.E. Lawrence had also worked with Woolley before the First World War. In 1925, Arnold married Barbara Inness Thompson. They had one daughter, Jane.
In 1922, Arnold posed for the sculptor Kathleen Scott. Her statue, called Youth, was later placed at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.
After T. E. Lawrence died in 1935, Arnold worked to keep his brother's memory alive. He collected items related to T.E. and tried to correct wrong ideas about him in the media. In 1936, Arnold gave Clouds Hill, T.E.'s home, to the National Trust. It is now a museum. T.E.'s lasting fame was sometimes a challenge for Arnold. Many people saw Arnold mainly as the brother of someone famous.
His Work and Later Life
Arnold Lawrence wrote many books about Greek architecture and sculpture. He also wrote about old forts in West Africa. In 1930, he became a reader in Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. In 1944, he became a full professor there. He also became a Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.
In 1951, he left his job at Cambridge. He moved to the University College of the Gold Coast (now Ghana). There, he became a Professor of Archaeology. He helped set up the National Museum of Ghana. He also worked as the Secretary and Conservator for the Monuments and Relics Committee. He left these jobs in 1957 when Ghana became an independent country. After that, he settled in Yorkshire, England.
In 1985, Lawrence was interviewed for a BBC TV show called Omnibus. The show was about his brother, T. E. Lawrence.
In September 1985, Arnold and his wife moved to Langford. This was close to where their grandchildren lived. After his wife died in 1986, Lawrence moved to the home of a friend, Peggy Guido. There, he started working on a new version of his 1935 book about Herodotus. He died on March 31, 1991, at the age of 90. He did not finish the new book. His notes and other papers were given to the Bodleian Library.
Arnold Lawrence was a Fellow of the British Academy.
Books by A. W. Lawrence
- Lawrence, A. W. Later Greek Sculpture and its Influence. London: Jonathan Cape; New York: Harcourt Brace, 1927.
- Lawrence, A. W. Classical Sculpture – Its History from the Earliest Times to the Death of Constantine. London: Jonathan Cape, 1929.
- Lawrence, A. W., ed. Captives of Tipu: Survivors' Narratives London: Jonathan Cape, 1929.
- Lawrence, A. W., ed. Narratives of the Discovery of America. London: Jonathan Cape, 1931.
- Lawrence, A. W. Herodotus, Rawlinson's Translation Revised and Annotated. London: Nonesuch Press, 1935.
- Lawrence, A. W., ed. T.E. Lawrence by His Friends. London: Jonathan Cape; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1937.
- Lawrence, A. W., ed. Oriental Assembly by T.E. Lawrence. London: Williams & Norgate, 1939.
- Lawrence, A. W. Greek Architecture. London: Penguin; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957; 2nd ed, 1967 (later editions revised by others).
- Lawrence, A. W., ed. Letters to T.E. Lawrence. London: Jonathan Cape, 1962.
- Lawrence, A. W. Trade Castles and Forts of West Africa. London: Jonathan Cape; Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1963.
- Lawrence, A. W. Greek and Roman Sculpture. London: Jonathan Cape, 1972.
- Lawrence, A. W. Greek Aims in Fortification. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.
