Lawrence of Arabia: Early picture of Clouds Hill cottage unearthed

The photograph shows a family group outside the cottage

An early photograph of the rural, Dorset cottage of TE Lawrence has been discovered.

Famously known as Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence retreated to Clouds Hill near Wareham for his retirement in 1935, after gradually transforming it to his taste over the previous 12 years.

National Trust volunteer Martin Gething unearthed the family photograph taken at the cottage dating from the 1890s.

It is thought to be 30 years older than any other known photos of the property.

After his death in 1935, Clouds Hill was inherited by Lawrence's younger brother. He donated it to the National Trust and it opened to the public in 1938.

Lawrence was a prolific letter-writer and the trust already had many details of the alterations he made to the isolated rural cottage, but few photographs.

Mr Gething was researching the families who had previously lived in Clouds Hill in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

During his investigations, he traced a great-granddaughter of Bessie Pride, who was born in the cottage in 1874.

She found the family still had a photograph of Bessie with other members of her family standing in front of Clouds Hill.

Clouds Hill is one of the National Trust's smallest properties

Mr Gething said: "The cottage looks surprisingly like now, including the roof which looks identical (apart from a skylight window that Lawrence added) and which therefore answers the perennial question of whether the roof was previously thatched.

"It wasn't, at least by the 1890s."

A legendary officer, writer and diplomat, Lawrence served as an officer during World War One and later joined the Foreign Office. In 1922 he retreated from public life and joined the RAF under a pseudonym.

He was fatally injured in 1935 while riding his Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle close to his home in the Dorset countryside.

His wartime exploits were later immortalised in the 1962 film epic Lawrence of Arabia.

Lawrence of Arabia 1888-1935

TE Lawrence (pictured in 1927) - known as Lawrence of Arabia - became a legend of World War One after leading a guerrilla campaign against the Ottoman Empire

• British scholar, writer and soldier who mobilised the Arab Revolt in World War One

• A trained archaeologist with deep sympathies for the Arab people, Lawrence became an adviser to the Arabs and led small but effective irregular forces against Turkey, attacking communication and supply routes

• Sensationalised accounts of Lawrence's war exploits made him famous, but he spent the rest of his life trying to escape his own celebrity

• His memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, formed the basis of David Lean's 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O'Toole

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