John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence, (4 March 1811 – 27 June 1879), known as Sir John Lawrence, Bt., between 1858 and 1869, was a prominent British Imperial statesman and served as the Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869.
Early life
Lawrence was born in Richmond, North Riding of Yorkshire. He was the youngest son born into an Ulster-Scots family, his mother, Letitia Knox, being from County Donegal while his father was from Coleraine in County Londonderry. Lawrence spent his early years in Derry, a city in the Province of Ulster in the northern part of Ireland, and was educated at Foyle College and Wraxhall School in Bath. His father had served in India as a soldier in the British Army and his elder brothers included Sir George Lawrence and Sir Henry Lawrence.
At the age of sixteen, despite wishing for a military career like his brothers, his father enrolled him at the East India Company College, Haileybury, believing a career as a civil servant offered better prospects. He attended Haileybury for two years, where by his own admission he was neither very idle nor very industrious, yet he won prizes in history, political economy and Bengali. After four years in Delhi he was transferred to Panipat and two years hence was placed in charge of Gurgaon district.
Aftermath of Rebellion
In the immediate aftermath of the rebellion, the British perpetrated acts of vengeance, including summary executions. In February 1858 Delhi became part of the Punjab, and Lawrence took steps to check the acts of vengeance. On arrival in England he was greeted with a lavish ceremony at Guildhall and afforded an audience with Queen Victoria.
Viceroy of India
thumb|right|Sir John Lawrence as [[Viceroy of India, sitting middle, with his Executive Council members and Secretaries]]
On 12 January 1864, Lawrence returned to India, succeeding Lord Elgin as Viceroy of India. His stated ambitions as Viceroy were to consolidate British power and to improve the ‘condition of the people’. To enable Lawrence to claim both his annuity from the East India Company and his full salary as Viceroy, the Salary of Sir J. Lawrence Act 1864 was passed in March 1864.
Domestic policy
Domestically, Lawrence sought to increase tenant security and to reduce fiscal assessments imposed on Indians, believing that what had worked in the Punjab would work across British India. He saw light taxation as a matter of fairness and pragmatism, arguing that for Indian yeomen to safeguard British rule it was essential that they should feel the benefits of a British administration. Lawrence resisted calls for increasing the taxation of salt that would have disproportionately affected poorer Indians. He calculated that the excise on salt increased its price as much as twelvefold in the Punjab, and perhaps by eight times in the North West Provinces.
Lawrence argued any attempt to restrain Russian advance in Afghanistan would lead to the eventual occupation of the country, as was the case in 1838.
thumb|Bust of Lawrence in Westminster Abbey
Arthur Munby wrote in 1860:
<blockquote>Thursday, 31st. May:... Passing through Kensington Tuesday, (29th.May) I saw a man of all others worth seeing—Sir John Lawrence. He was riding down the street alone—without even a groom: and no one knew or noticed him. A large, loosely made man; sitting grave and quiet on his horse; with sallow wrinkled face and grizzled moustache: riding along, an unappreciated king of men, with such keen eyes and such a solemn face!
And he all unnoticed, and still a commoner, while Vernon Smith is a peer! But idiots are proverbially the favourites of fortune.</blockquote>
In 1870 Lawrence was elected to represent the Chelsea division of the London School Board, and was appointed chairman at the first board meeting. He resigned from the position in November 1873.
From 1871-72, he chaired a Royal Commission into the beaching of HMS Megaera.
Lawrence briefly returned to the public sphere in 1878 as a critic of the Conservative government's Afghan policy in the months preceding the Second Afghan War.
Lawrence died in London on 27 June 1879, aged 68 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
Family
thumb|right|[[Statue of Lord Lawrence in Waterloo Place, London]]
Lawrence married Harriette Catherine, daughter of The Reverend Richard Hamilton, in 1841.
- Catherine Letitia Lawrence (1843–1931), married Col. William Lowndes Randall
- Harriette Emily Lawrence (1844–1918), married Sir Henry Stewart Cunningham
- John Hamilton Lawrence (1845–1913), succeeded his father as the 2nd Baron Lawrence
- Henry Lawrence (1848–1902), a noted rugby player who captained England in two matches, including the first ever international against Ireland.
- Alice Margaret Lawrence (1850–1944), married Rev. Launcelot Charles Walford (1843–1936) on 14 July 1870. They had three daughters.
- Mary Emma Lawrence (1852–1939), married Francis William Buxton, son of Sir Edward North Buxton, 2nd Baronet on 27 February 1872. They had three sons, and five daughters.
- Charles Napier Lawrence (1854–1927), businessman and was created Baron Lawrence of Kingsgate in 1923.
- Edith Hamilton Lawrence (7 June 1860 – 24 February 1861), died in infancy
- Sir Herbert Alexander Lawrence (1861–1943), a First World War general and a banker.
- Dame Maude Agnes Lawrence (1865–1933), civil servant
Lady Lawrence died in 1917.
Legacy
A boarding house at the East India Company College (today Haileybury and Imperial Service College) and a "house" at Foyle College was subsequently named after him. Lawrence is also a Senior Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling, in India, where all the Senior Wing Houses are named after colonial-era civil service and military figures.
A statue of him stands at Foyle and Londonderry College (having been, originally, erected in Lahore). The statue, by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, once showed Lawrence with a pen in one hand and a sword in the other, along with the caption "By which will you be governed?". The pen and sword were used to illustrate his versatility as an administrator and a soldier. Vandals have since damaged the sword. Another statue of Lawrence stands in Waterloo Place in central London. The inscription on the base of the statue originally reads "John First Lord Lawrence, ruler of the Punjaub during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869. Erected by his fellow subjects, British and Indian, A.D. 1882.," but the word "Punjaub" (Punjab) has been defaced and rendered illegible by vandals.
Arms
References
- Mundy, Man of Two Worlds.Derek Hudson.The Life and Diaries of Arthur Munby, 1828–1910.Abacus Edition, 1974, published by Sphere Books.
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