Lawrence of Oxford

This school group photograph from 1901 goes some way towards proving the story of the five Lawrence boys cycling in line down the Woodstock Road, all dressed in blue and white striped jerseys, for there they are, or at least three of them, sticking out like latter day pirates among their more soberly dressed peers, with Frank at the left end of the front row, Will just behind him and, towards the back, looking like every school teacher's nightmare, the impish TEL. Bob is also in this photograph, but since he was inconsiderate enough to leave off his jumper on this particular day, he is rather more difficult to locate. He is in the fifth row from the front, fifth in from the right, looking extremely smart in his stiff collar and jacket. Both Bob and Frank are clutching their straw boater hats, further examples of which can be seen in the front row.

This school photograph was taken in July 1907, at the end of his school days, by TEL himself, who is seen here standing slightly apart from the group on the right. His method of achieving this was to operate the shutter of his stand camera with the aid of a well concealed length of rubber tubing and a bicycle pump hidden under his jacket, an ingenious idea which accounts for the slightly odd pose of his hand. He also produced the prints himself, and presented a copy to everyone in the photograph. TEL's younger brother Will stands to the left of him, and headmaster Mr Cave is seated in the centre. Of this group of fourteen, all but one, who became a dentist, went on to university in Oxford. Six of them, including TEL, won college awards, a tremendous achievement for any school.