| Authorised form of name | Lawrence; Sir; John (c 1625 - 1692); politician and haberdasher |
| Dates | c 1625 - 1692 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | c 1625 |
| Date of death | 26 January 1692 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
St Helen's, Bishopsgate, London, England, Europe (29 January 1692 OS) |
| Occupation | Merchant; haberdasher |
| Activity | Education:
Christ's Hospital, London
Career:
Alderman for Queenhithe ward (1658-1683; 1688-1692); Commissioner of the HEIC (1659-1660, 1675-1678, 1679-1680, 1681-1683); Sheriff of London (1658-1659); Lord Mayor of London (1664-1665); President of St Thomas' Hospital (1668-1683)
Honours:
Kt 1660
Memberships:
Haberdashers' Company |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 27/11/1673 |
| Proposer | Seth Ward |
| Date of ejection or withdrawal | 22 July 1685 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1674, 1678, 1680 |
| Other Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
Council 1674, 1678, 1680
Expelled due to non-payment of arrears |
| Relationships | Parents: Abraham Lawrence and Mary Lawrence
Married: Abigail Cullen
Children: ten overall |
| OtherInfo | Lawrence was Lord Mayor of London while the plague was spreading through the city. He was a committee member of the Honorable East India Company (HEIC), an English and later British company formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region. The company ended up seizing control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent (and briefly Afghanistan) and colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
Although he is not listed amongst shareholders of the New Royal African Company in 1672, he is reported to have held £1,600 in stock in the first iteration of the Company. The RAC was a British trading company established by Royal Charter in 1660 which enslaved and sold African people. The company was chartered by Charles II, the founding royal Patron of the Royal Society, which was also chartered in 1660. The RAC was made up of and funded by members of the Stuart royal family and London merchants many of whom were, or went on to become, Fellows of the Royal Society. The Royal Society itself held shares in the company from 1682 until 1699. The RAC held a monopoly on English trade on the west coast of Africa. The principal interest of the company was originally gold and secondarily other natural resources. The Company's second charter in 1663 mentions trade in enslaved people, who were mainly sold into slavery on British owned estates in the West Indies and America. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; Hunter; Woodhead
Notes:
Hunter and Woodhead give date of death as 1692; BR gives 1718 (amended in pencil). Some sources have a range of 1621-1628 as possible years of birth. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/45719250 |
| Code | NA4995 |