Lawrence, LORD. John Laird-Mair Lawrence was one of twelve children of Lieut.-col. Alexander Lawrence, an Irish Protestant, who served in the Mysore campaign and at the storming of Seringapatam. Born at Richmond, Yorkshire, 4th March 1811, he obtained in 1827 a presentation to Haileybury College, where he carried off the chief prizes. His first years in the Indian civil service were spent in Delhi and the neighbourhood. On the annexation of the Punjab Lawrence was appointed commissioner, and afterwards lieutenant-governor. His administration of this once anarchic province made him deservedly popular with Europeans and natives alike. He used every effort to curb the oppression of the people by their chiefs, devised a rational system of land tenure, and devoted his whole time and energy to the work of restoring peace and prosperity. It was through the influence which he then acquired over the native population that he was able to render such effective service during the Indian Mutiny. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that he then proved himself to be the mainstay of the British dominion in India. The once restless Sikhs had become so attached to his firm and beneficent rule that Lawrence was enabled to disarm the mutineers in the Punjab, to raise an army of 59,000 men, and to capture the city of Delhi from the rebels after an eventful siege of three months. So timely was this succour, and so great had been his foresight, that he was thereafter styled 'the saviour of India.' On his return to England he received the thanks of parliament, with the grant of a pension of £1000 a year. He was made a baronet in 1858, and a privy-councillor in 1859. In 1861 Lawrence was nominated one of the knights of the 'Star of India.' In 1863 he succeeded Lord Elgin as Governor-general of India; he was made a member of the Indian council, and the Court of Directors of the East India Company granted him a life pension of £2000 a year. His five years' administration of the Indian empire was marked by the same wisdom, foresight, and prudence as distinguished his career in the Punjab. His financial policy was based upon sound principles; he took a strong personal interest in the many social problems which Indian statesmen have to confront; and his foreign policy was generally approved of. He did not believe in British interference in Asia beyond the frontier of India, and was especially opposed to intriguing in Afghanistan. In 1869 he was raised to the House of Peers as Baron Lawrence. Lord Lawrence was chairman of the London School-board from 1870 till 1873. He devoted the last days of his life in parliament (1878) to an exposure of the policy which led up to the disastrous Afghan war, and which he had vainly striven to counteract in his retirement. He died 27th June 1879. See his Life by Bosworth Smith (1883), Sir Richard Temple (1889), and Sir C. Aitchison (1892).
His elder brother, SIR HENRY MONTGOMERY LAWRENCE, was born at Matura, Ceylon, 28th June 1806. In 1823 he joined the Bengal Artillery near Calcutta, where Havelock was stationed at the same time. He took part in the first Burmese war in 1828, in the first Afghan war in 1838, and in the Sikh wars of 1845 and 1848; and in 1848 he was made K.C.B. In 1856, while in charge of the Rajputana province, Lawrence published two articles pointing out the danger of reducing the strength of the British army of occupation in India, and the latent causes of mutiny, which might burst forth at any time. These warnings were more than justified by subsequent events. In March 1857 he was appointed to the charge of affairs in Lucknow, and did all that he could to restore contentment there. But the mutiny broke out in May, and Lawrence saw that it would inevitably spread throughout India. He made extensive preparations at Lucknow, and it was owing to his wonderful foresight that it was made possible for a mere handful of European soldiers to defend the Residency for about four months against an army of the rebels which was in possession of the town. Sir Henry Lawrence himself was injured by the explosion of a shell on 2d July 1857, and died two days afterwards from the effects of the wound. His death was a great blow to the little garrison, but they held out bravely till the end of September, when relief came from Cawnpore. In addition to his reputation as a statesman and soldier, Sir Henry Lawrence is known as a philanthropist, and was the founder of the Lawrence Military Asylums in the Punjab, Rajputana, and Madras. He devoted the most of his income to these and other deserving institutions. A marble statue has been erected to his memory in St Paul's Cathedral. See his Life by Sir Herbert Edwardes and Herman Merivale (1873), and that by M'Leod Innes (1898).