A RELATIVE of Lawrence of Arabia joined a crowd at his graveside to mark the 80th anniversary of his death.

A three-stop tour took the group from the memorial crash site in Bovington, where Thomas Edward Lawrence was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident on May 19, 1935 to the hospital where he passed away and then finally to his graveside for a short ceremony.

Theresa Jenkins-Teague, who is a distant relative on the Irish side of the famous soldier’s family, said that she was pleased with the turnout of people who had come to remember him.

She said it was important that people read up on his story and his involvement with the Middle East.

“It’s lovely that everyone is interested in his story.

“I don’t think that he thought he was anyone particularly special, so I think he’d be rather bemused by this,” she added.

Speaking to the Echo at the crash site, Colonel Gordon Judd from Bovington Camp, who gave a short speech to those gathered, said: “I read his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom and I have to say he was an incredibly inspiring individual.”

Seven Pillars of Wisdom was written when the Welshman moved to Dorset, joined the Tank Corps at Bovington and bought Clouds Hill.

He died after he swerved to avoid two boys in the road on their bikes just a few miles down the road.

Warrant officer Kenny McLeod, who laid a wreath at Bovington Medical Centre, travelled down especially from Tidworth for the memorial. He said:

The final stop of the tour was the cemetery of Moreton Church, where T.E Lawrence was laid to rest. A short prayer was said wreath laid on his grave.