Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

London, Mar 5: Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence’s death in a motorbike accident on a sunny English countryside near Dorset in 1935 set off a chain of conspiracy theories – the most famous being that he was murdered by secret service agents because he was an embarrassment to the government.

Now a lost letter has shed fresh light on Lawrence’s love for notching high speeds on motorbikes, which might as well have attributed to the fatal road crash.

The letter written in 1933 to Henry Williamson, fascist sympathiser and author of Tarka the Otter, boasts of Lawrence’s attempts to notch high speeds on motorbikes.

In the letter, Lawrence writes: "I had a noble ride: Salisbury in 2 hrs. 56 mins: a splendid bike this one of mine. I slide past Alvisses [a make of car]".

The journey from Plymouth, where Lawrence was stationed with the RAF, to Salisbury in Dorset is around 135 miles, which meant that he averaged nearly 50mph on poor roads and was keen on timing his efforts.

It’s a known fact that Lawrence later changed motorcycle and died on an extremely powerful Brough Superior.

Rodney Legg, author of Lawrence of Dorset, said: "The irony is that this letter to Williamson is about motorbikes. And it was after sending a telegram to Williamson that Lawrence died after a motorcycle crash”.

"Williamson was a fascist and this proves he was having friendly communication with Lawrence long before the crash. He had invited Lawrence to Germany to meet leading fascists, including Hitler, and Lawrence was returning home after replying to the invitation when he died,” the Daily Mail quoted Legg as saying.

“His telegram said "lunch Tuesday" and gave instructions to his cottage which was "one mile north Bovington Camp. It is a very interesting letter and it gives hope that there might be others out there which might add details to Lawrence’s life and death,” Legg added.

The letter is to be sold at auction at Duke’s of Dorchester where it is expected to fetch around 2,000 pounds.

Lawrence gained fame as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ for his exploits against the Ottoman Turks in the Middle East during World War I.

Lawrence was returning to his Dorset home after sending a telegram to Williamson when he came off his motorbike. He died six days later at the age of 46.

Soon conspiracy theories gained ground, that a black van supposedly seen at the crash site but never traced, ran Lawrence off the road.

When he died he was living in a cottage at Clouds Hill near Wareham, which was later turned into a National Trust museum. (ANI)