Charles Lawes-Wittewronge

Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-Wittewronge, 2nd Baronet (3 October 1843 – 6 October 1911) was an English

Life

Charles Bennet Lawes was born at Teignmouth, Devon, the only son of Sir John Lawes of Rothamsted Manor, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1] At Cambridge he won the Colquhoun Sculls in 1862 and won the

Having finished second in the 1 mile at Eton in 1859, he also enjoyed success at the university distance running events. in 1864 he won the mile at the Cambridge University sports and was awarded an athletics Blue for winning the mile at the Inter University sports.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} In 1866 he won the Cambridge University half mile, 1 mile and 2 miles events, and won the 1 mile at the first Amateur Athletic Club Championship. He presented the trophy awarded annually to the winner of this event which became the Amateur Athletic Association 1 mile trophy in 1880.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Lawes decided to become a sculptor, and began his training in London under John Henry Foley RA. In 1869 he studied under Hugo Hagen in Berlin. He rented a studio in Chelsea, and in 1872, he exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy, Girl at the Stream. In 1878 he won an honourable mention at the Paris Universal Exhibition. He also exhibited his Daphne at the Royal Academy in 1880 and The Panther in 1881.^[13] Lawes also carried out work for the scientific side of the Lawes Agricultural Trust, founded by his father, and became its chairman.

In 1882 Lawes was involved in a libel case after he had imputed in the magazine Vanity Fair and elsewhere that another sculptor, Richard Claude Belt, was dishonest for taking credit for work done by someone else. The long trial, the last to be heard by the High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall, occupied the court for 43 sittings and excited much public interest at the time. The question at issue was how much a sculptor may be aided by others in work to which he attaches his name. Eventually the case was decided against Lawes, and Belt was awarded £5,000 damages.^[14]

In 1898, at age fifty-five, Lawes took up cycle racing and held the

Charles Lawes succeeded his father as 2nd Baronet on 31 August 1900. In 1902 he assumed for himself and his heirs by Royal Licence the additional surname (and arms) of Wittewronge.

In 1901, Lawes helped judge the world's first major bodybuilding competition. Organized by the "Father of Bodybuilding", Eugen Sandow. The event was held in London's Royal Albert Hall, and was judged by Lawes, Sandow and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.^[16]

In 1906 Lawes-Wittewronge executed The Death of