Lawrence of Arabia headlines the Royal Mint’s latest six-coin First World War commemorative set

T.E. LAWRENCE CB, DSO (1888-1935)

The design commemorating T. E. Lawrence was created by sculptor, David Cornell, who was inspired by a sense of adventure. The edge inscription reads ‘I WROTE MY WILL ACROSS THE SKY IN STARS’ and is taken from the introductory poem to Lawrence’s book Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

“I chose to show Lawrence in his Arabian headdress, flowing down to almost become part of the desert itself. The camels and riders in the foreground represent the Arab revolt in 1916 when Lawrence joins Sharif Faisal’s campaign against the Turks, tying down thousands of Turkish troops and preventing them from fighting against the regular allied troops.

I was honoured to be asked to design coins in memory of the bravery and dedication to duty of just a few outstanding people and to represent the many who gave their lives for our freedom. I have tried to capture just some of the outstanding feats of bravery shown in the most difficult of circumstances.”

David Cornell has completed a number of commissions for The Royal Mint including the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Coin and the coin struck to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge. David’s designs for this series of First World War Six-Coin Sets explore the human element of the conflict and the bravery of individuals like T. E. Lawrence.

WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE

David Lawrence’s design remembers the women who worked on the home front. The edge inscription ‘ON HER THEIR LIVES DEPEND’ is taken from a contemporary poster recruiting women to the factories.

“The image is of a woman making shells. I wanted to show a woman in what had traditionally been a man’s role and to show her surrounded by the trappings of that role, large, hard-edged machinery, potentially dangerous – many munitions workers were killed, for example.

To juxtapose the hard and soft, I focused on the face, as women necessarily wore very ‘blank’ clothes so in the face I could really emphasise femininity. I found it poignant that this woman may be making an armament designed to kill the husbands of her ‘enemy’ and in Germany there were probably women trying to do the same to her father, brother or husband, destroying people who could in peacetime be a friend.”

Sculptor, designer, artist and illustrator David Lawrence has created a broad portfolio of work in varied media since graduating with a degree in Scientific Illustration. David’s commissions for The Royal Mint include a £5 coin marking the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo. His designs for the First World War Six-Coin Sets explore the cultural impact of the conflict.

WIDOWS LEFT BEHIND

This design, by David Lawrence, remembers the women left behind after the First World War.  The edge inscription reads ‘THE WATCHERS BY LONELY HEARTHS’ and is taken from the poem ‘The Cenotaph’ by Charlotte Mew.

“I thought a lot about the big battles of the war, and how so many would be receiving bad news on the same day. Nowadays we worry about our children crossing the street, but to know that someone we loved could be gone in a second, the level of anxiety at home must have been unbearable. You could lose them at any moment. I imagined that many soldiers would carry a letter in their breast pocket, probably their most valued possession, perhaps with a photograph of someone he loved and who loved him – a mother, a wife, a friend.

I have included a letter I saw at the Imperial War Museum, with the lovely words, ‘My own dear boy’. On top of the letter is her ‘dear boy’s’ victory medal, an ironic touch as he would never have received it in his own hand. I have imagined them both over some soil, as if this is all that is left. This is the price of victory. These things in a man’s pocket may be all that was left behind of him, all that love, all that striving, all that humanity. It is so very sad.”