Lawrence, William (1789-1855), carpenter

William Lawrence was born at St Agnes, Cornwall, on 4 February 1789, the son of Thomas Lawrence, a carpenter, and his wife Mary, née Tonkin. In the course of years he followed his father’s profession, and in 1808, at the age of nineteen, he left his native village with two guineas and his tools, and with a couple of young friends, also carpenters, worked his way to Plymouth, where he boarded a ship for London. Once in the capital, he worked his way up in the trade, becoming a master builder and a member of the Carpenters’ Company. By the time he was twenty-five he had established his own firm at Hoxton, and two years later he opened premises in Bread Street, Cheapside. (See the price list issued in 1825 under the name of Lawrence & Co. (PETH 5/3). The firm (later known as William Lawrence & Sons) acquired extensive property adjacent to Cannon Street, which they pulled down and rebuilt when that road was extended in 1853, making a substantial profit. William Lawrence was a reformer and Unitarian, and played a leading part in the agitation for the Reform Bill of 1832. He was elected alderman for the ward of Bread Street in 1848, and Sheriff of London and Middlesex the following year. His grandson, Lord Pethick-Lawrence, noted that ‘had he lived two years longer he would have been Lord Mayor’ (Fate Has Been Kind, p. 17). See also Burke’s Peerage, 1923, p. 1350.]

F. W. Pethick-Lawrence, Fate Has Been Kind

Burke’s Peerage, 1923, p. 1350