John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence
Lawrence in an 1871 edition of Vanity Fair

John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence , GCB , GCSI , PC (born March 4, 1811 in Richmond , † January 27, 1879 in London ) was an Irish nobleman and British statesman. From 1864 to 1869 he was Governor General and Viceroy of India .

Life

Lawrence was born in Richmond on March 4, 1811, the eighth of twelve children. He grew up in Derry and was educated at Foyle College .

In 1829 he left for British India with his older brother Henry Montgomery Lawrence . He soon became a tax collector and judge in Delhi . Further uses followed without attracting the attention of his superiors.

In 1841 he married Harriete Catherine Hamilton, with whom he had ten children. During the First Sikh War , Lawrence excelled by organizing the supplies of the British Army in the Punjab and was commissioner of the Jalandhar district ceded by the Sikhs . In this role he fought against the mountain tribes, carried out administrative reforms and went against the custom of widow burning ( sati ). In 1849, after the Second Sikh War , he became a member of the Punjab Board of Administration , again under his brother, and was responsible for a number of reforms such as the abolition of internal tariffs, the introduction of a unified currency and postal system and the improvement of the infrastructure. His attempts to limit the power of the local upper class brought him into opposition to his brother.

When Governor General James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie , dissolved the Punjab Board of Administration , Lawrence became Chief Commissioner of the Provincial Executive . When the Indian uprising of 1857 broke out , he managed to prevent it from spreading to the Punjab. He signed a treaty with Dost Mohammed and led the troops that recaptured Delhi from the insurgents. In recognition of this achievement, he was made a baronet and received an annual pension of £ 2,000 from the British East India Company .

Lawrence returned to Great Britain in 1859, but in 1863 he succeeded the unexpectedly deceased James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin , as Governor General of India and took over the office from acting William Denison . He avoided entanglements in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf . Internally, he improved the educational opportunities for the local population, but at the same time limited their use in high civilian posts. In 1869 he was raised to hereditary nobility on his return to Great Britain as Baron Lawrence , of the Punjab and of Grately in the County of Southampton. Lawrence died in London on January 27, 1879. His title passed to his eldest son.

A memorial by Joseph Boehm at Foyle College in Derry and another at Waterloo Place in London commemorate him. Some educational institutions were also named after him. His grave is in Westminster Abbey .

literature

Web links

Commons : John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files
predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Lawrence
1869–1879 		John Lawrence
personal data
SURNAME Lawrence, John, 1st Baron Lawrence
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lawrence, John Laird Mair; Lawrence, Sir John, 1st Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Colonial Administrator and Viceroy of India
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1811
PLACE OF BIRTH Richmond (North Yorkshire)
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1879
Place of death London