John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence
PC | |
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Viceroy and Governor-General of India | |
In office 12 January 1864 – 12 January 1869 | |
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Sir Robert Montgomery |
Chief Commissioner of Punjab | |
In office 18 January 1853 – 31 December 1858 | |
Governors General | The Marquess of Dalhousie The Earl Canning |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | 4 March 1811 Richmond, North Riding of Yorkshire, England |
Died | 27 June 1879 London, United Kingdom | (aged 68)
Spouse |
Harriette Hamilton
(m. 1841) |
Alma mater | East India Company College |
John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence,
Early life
Lawrence was born in
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.[3] 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.[3]
Passage to India
Lawrence entered the
In 1837, Lawrence was made a settlement officer at
On his return to India, Lawrence was appointed a Civil and Sessions Judge in Delhi, and given responsibility over
Punjab
Jullundur and the Hill States
At the conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War, Sir Henry Hardinge appointed Lawrence to govern the newly annexed
"John Lawrence was full of energy – his coat off, his sleeves turned up above his elbows and impressing upon his subjects his principles of a just state demand...thou shall not burn thy widow, thou shall not kill thy daughters; thou shall not bury alive thy lepers."
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.[3]
Board of Administration
Victory in the
Lawrence disagreed with his brother Henry's policy of retaining the support of the local aristocracy, arguing it was too extravagant and hurting finances.[4] In December 1852, having overseen a highly productive period of governance, the Lawrence brothers offered their resignations.[3] 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.[4]
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.[3] 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
Indian Mutiny
Lawrence was in Rawalpindi when he received news of a sepoy uprising in Meerut.[3]
The Punjab garrison in May 1857 was 60,000 strong, consisting of 10,000 Europeans, 36,000 Hindustani sepoys and 14,000 Punjabi irregulars.[3] His first step was to disarm potentially disaffected sepoys by splitting them into detachments and dispatching them to the Afghan frontier where they were less likely to rebel.[3] His next steps were to send the Corps of Guides, 1st Punjabi's (Coke's Afridis), 4th Sikhs and 4th Punjab Infantry seven hundred miles to Delhi.[3] To patrol the now militarily depleted Punjab, Lawrence then at the suggestion of John Nicholson and Herbert Edwardes deployed a movable column of lightly equipped European and Punjabi troops, and chose Neville Chamberlain to lead it.[3]
To guarantee the loyalty of the Punjab, he requested Sikh chiefs show gratitude for leniency following annexation, and
As the fighting continued, Lawrence felt inclined to send the large contingent of European soldiers stationed at Peshawar to Delhi.
Aftermath of Rebellion
In the immediate aftermath of the rebellion, the British perpetrated acts of vengeance, including summary executions.[6] In February 1858 Delhi became part of the Punjab, and Lawrence took steps to check the acts of vengeance.[6] That same month he wrote to Lord Canning urging him to permit sepoys who had not taken part in the mutiny to return home, and to grant an amnesty for those who did not murder anyone and had given up their arms.[3]
Calls were made to raze Delhi to the ground, and dismantle the Jama Masjid, however Lawrence resisted such calls stating holy places should be spared.[3] Popular opinion within British society was shaped by partisan reports of atrocities committed by the rebels and demanded the most severe retribution on the alleged culprits, an opinion which was resisted by Lord Canning and Lawrence.[3] As many as 800,000 Indians and possibly more, both in the rebellion (150,000 dead) and in famines and epidemics of disease (650,000 dead) in its wake, by comparison of 1857 population estimates with the Indian Census of 1871.[7] About 6,000 British occupiers or family members were killed.[7]
In 1858, the Punjab was made a Lieutenant Governorship which resulted in an increase in staff and other privileges. In February 1859, Lawrence handed over power to
Additionally he received the freedoms of the cities of London (1858) and
Viceroy of India
On 12 January 1864, Lawrence returned to India, succeeding
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.[10] 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.[10] Lawrence abhorred the stance taken by many of his compatriots, who considered it their 'prerogative while in India to pay no taxation at all.' He characterised the non-official British community in India as 'birds of passage', rushing to amass wealth as quickly as possible with no care for what happened after their departure.[10]
Arguably the greatest failure of Lawrence's tenure was the
Foreign policy
Lawrence's fame and extensive regional knowledge afforded him considerable scope by Westminster in determining Indian foreign policy.[10]
In June 1863, the Emir of Afghanistan, Dost Muhammad Khan, died, resulting in civil war within Afghanistan at a time when the British government were concerned with Russian expansionism in central Asia. Lawrence adopted a strategy of strict non-intervention on Afghanistan, devising a policy that would be known as 'masterly inactivity.' The policy meant no British envoys or troops were sent to Afghanistan, and civilian explorers were prohibited from wandering beyond the frontier. It has been argued the policy was shaped by Lawrence's experience of the First Anglo-Afghan War where his brother George was held captive.[13]
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.[10] 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.[10] Criticism centred on the belief that Britain's apparent passivity would allow Russia to establish her influence at Kabul.[10]
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.[14]
Arthur Munby, as quoted in Munby, Man of Two Worlds, wrote: 'Thursday, 31st. May, 18??:... 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 he 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.[15]
Lawrence briefly returned to the public sphere in 1878 as a critic of the Conservative government's Afghan policy in the months preceding the
Lawrence died in London on 27 June 1879, aged 68 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.[2] A memorial bust of Lawrence by the sculptor Thomas Woolner was later erected in the nave of the Abbey.[17]
Family
Lawrence married Harriette Catherine, daughter of The Reverend Richard Hamilton, in 1841.[2] They had four sons and six daughters:[18][19]
- 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 Sir Edward North Buxton, 2nd Baroneton 27 February 1872. They had three sons, and five daughters.
- Baron Lawrence of Kingsgatein 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
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. A portion of the inscription on the base of the statue originally read "Ruler of the Punjab," but the word "Punjab" has been defaced and rendered illegible by vandals.
Arms
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References
- ^ "BBC – Radio 4 Empire – the Sepoy Rebellion (I)".
- ^ ISBN 978-1108036146.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-331-55959-7.
- ^ ISBN 0822331640.
- ^ The Times, 29 July 1858, p. 8.
- ^ a b Metcalf, The Aftermath of Revolt, p. 295.
- ^ a b Peers 2013, p. 64.
- ^ "No. 22171". The London Gazette. 6 August 1858. p. 3667.
- ^ Bosworth Smith, Life of Lord Lawrence, vol. II, chs. 8 & 9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wallace, Christopher Julian (June 2014). 'Masterly inactivity': Lord Lawrence, Britain and Afghanistan, 1864–1879. King's College London.
- ^ Bosworth Smith, Life of Lord Lawrence, vol. II, p. 418
- ^ A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: Being the Sixth Session of the Eighteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. 1864. p. 3.
- ^ J.L. Duthie, ‘Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson and the Art of Great Gamesmanship’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, XI (1983), 258.
- ^ "No. 23483". The London Gazette. 30 March 1869. p. 2006.
- ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
- ^ "Death of Lord John Lawrence". South Australian Register. Vol. XLIV, no. 10, 180. South Australia. 1 July 1879. p. 5. Retrieved 12 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "John Laird Mair Lawrence". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ "Death of Lord Lawrence". The Times. 28 June 1879. p. 12.
- ^ Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1907. p. 991. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.
- Attribution
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lawrence, John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Mundy, Man of Two Worlds.Derek Hudson.The Life and Diaries of Arthur Munby, 1828–1910.Abacus Edition, 1974, published by Sphere Books.
- Peers, Douglas M. (2013), India Under Colonial Rule: 1700–1885, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-317-88286-2.
Further reading
- "Lawrence, John Laird Mair". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16182. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Edwardes, Michael. The Necessary Hell: John and Henry Lawrence and the Indian Empire (Cassell, 1958)
- William Ford (1887). John Laird Mair Lawrence, a viceroy of India.
- Reginald Bosworth Smith, Life of Lord Lawrence, in 2 vols., (London: Smith Elder & Co., 1883)
- "Review of Life of Lord Lawrence by R. Bosworth Smith". The Quarterly Review. 155: 289–326. April 1883.