Lawrence of Arabia

Today we went to Wareham, principally to visit the vintage/tea shop called Re-Loved. However, they don't open on a Monday! ( Not mentioned on their Facebook site, which was the only place I could find anything online ).

Anyway, we visited the Church of Saint Martin, where an effigy of T.E. Lawrence can be found. This is not his burial place, but he lived close by and used to visit Wareham often, to shop and socialise.

At the age of 46, two months after leaving military service, Lawrence was fatally injured in an accident on his Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, near Wareham. A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars. He died six days later on 19 May 1935.

One of the doctors attending him was the neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns, who consequently began a long study of what he saw as the unnecessary loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use of crash helmets by motorcyclists.