Field Marshal Edmund Allenby on the Death of Lawrence of Arabia

Only Known Photo of Both Lawrence and Allenby

BBC Radio Interview, 22 May 1935 

I have lost a good friend and a valued comrade. Lawrence was under my command, but, after acquainting him with my strategical plan, I gave him a free hand. His co-operation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign.

He was the mainspring of the Arab movement. He knew their language, their manners, their mentality; he understood and shared their merry, sly humor; in daring, he led them; in endurance, he equaled, if not surpassed, their strongest.

Though in complete sympathy with his companions, and sharing to the full with them their hardship and danger, he was careful to maintain the dignity of his position as Confidential Advisor to the Emir Feisal. Himself an Emir, he wore the robes of that rank and kept up a suitable degree of state.

His own bodyguard–men of wild and adventurous spirit–were all picked by Lawrence personally. Mounted on thoroughbred camels, they followed him in all his daring rides; and among those reckless desert rangers, there was none who would not willingly have died for their chief. In fact, not a few lost their lives through devotion to him and in defence of his person.

The shy and retiring scholar, archaeologist, philosopher, was swept by the tide of war into a position undreamt of. His well-balanced brain and disciplined imagination facilitated adaptation to the new environment; and there shone forth a brilliant tactician, with a genius for leadership.

Such men win friends–such also find critics and detractors. But the highest reward for success is the inward knowledge that it has been rightly won. Praise or blame was regarded with indifference by Lawrence. He did his duty as he saw it before him.

He has left, to us who knew and admired him, a beloved memory; and to all his countrymen, the example of a life well-spent in service.

Lawrence thought highly of Allenby and said of him, "(He was) physically large and confident, and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness came slow to him". Allenby would die in May 1936.

The photo was found on Biosphere and the Lawrence quote on Wikipedia.