John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence

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. ==Passage to India==

Lawrence entered the Bengal Civil Service and in September 1829 he set sail for India with his brother Henry. On arrival he settled at Fort William where he was expected to pass examinations in local vernacular. After four years in Delhi he was transferred to Panipat and two years hence was placed in charge of Gurgaon district. In 1837, Lawrence was made a settlement officer at Etawah. Whilst doing the role he caught jungle fever and was close to death. He spent three months in Calcutta to convalesce but having failed to recover he returned to England in 1840. The following year, whilst in County Donegal he met and married his wife Harriette in August 1841. The couple then spent six months travelling Europe until news from the First Anglo-Afghan War led to them returning to England, and back to India in the autumn of 1842. On his return to India, Lawrence was appointed a Civil and Sessions Judge in Delhi, and given responsibility over Karnal. During the First Anglo-Sikh War between 1845 and 1846, Sir Henry Hardinge sent orders for Lawrence to assist the armed forces. He played a key role ahead of the Battle of Sobraon, ensuring supplies and guns were collected and transferred to the battle. ==Punjab==

Jullundur and the Hill States At the conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War, Hardinge appointed Lawrence to govern the newly-annexed Jullundur district and Hill States regions of the Punjab. In that role, Lawrence was known for his administrative reforms, his subduing the hill tribes and his attempts to end the custom of suttee. He attempted to tackle the issue of female infanticide by successfully threatening the Bedis with confiscation of their lands unless they gave up the practice. His assistant Robert Cust described Lawrence's interviews with native land-holders as follows: Another assistant, Lewin Bowring, described how he had a rough tongue with the local chiefs, who had a wholesome dread of him. He was described as far abler than his brother at details but was not held in as much affection by the chiefs. Board of Administration Victory in the Second Anglo-Sikh War established East India Company dominance in the Punjab, and on 30 March 1849, the Punjab was proclaimed a province of British India. Lawrence was appointed to a three-man Board of Administration to govern the province, headed by his elder brother Henry. He was responsible for numerous reforms, including the abolition of internal duties and the establishment of a common currency and postal system. Lawrence championed improvements to local infrastructure and raising money for public works, including an extension of the Grand Trunk Road from Delhi to Peshawar, the construction of a highway from Lahore to Multan, and construction on the Bari Doab Canal which provided a boon to cultivators in the area. He was also known for being financially astute, overseeing a fifty percent increase in revenue and ensuring the Punjab was delivering a surplus of over one million pounds sterling within three years of the Board being instituted. Lawrence disagreed with his brother Henry's policy of retaining the support of the local aristocracy, arguing it was too extravagant and hurting finances. In December 1852, having overseen a highly productive period of governance, the Lawrence brothers offered their resignations. Lord Dalhousie also feeling the necessity of a Board of Administration had ceased, sought to replace it with the new role of Chief Commissioner. Dalhousie rejected Lawrence's resignation, instead making him the first Chief Commissioner, meanwhile Henry went on to become Agent in Rajputana. Chief Commissioner As Chief Commissioner, Lawrence carried on the policies from before - public works were extended, industry and education encouraged and surveying completed. He granted greater authority to villages, and upheld the decisions of village headsmen. In addition, Lawrence now also had responsibility for managing the mercurial group of assistants recruited by his brother known as Henry Lawrence's "Young Men". In February 1856, Lawrence returned to Calcutta to wish farewell to the departing Lord Dalhousie who was retiring to England. As a parting gift, Dalhouse recommended Lawrence for the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. Whilst in Calcutta, Lawrence spent three days with Henry, in what would be the last time the brothers were together. ==Indian Mutiny==

Lawrence was in Rawalpindi when he received news of a sepoy uprising in Meerut. ==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==

, 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. Vocal criticism of Lawrence's policy of ‘masterly inactivity’ came from serving or former British army officers in India such as Henry Rawlinson and Sir Sydney Cotton. Criticism centred on the belief that Britain's apparent passivity would allow Russia to establish her influence at Kabul. ==Return to England==

Lawrence completed his five-year term as Viceroy and returned to England in January 1869. In April he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lawrence, of the Punjaub and of Grateley in the County of Southampton. Arthur Munby wrote in 1860: 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. 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==

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==

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