A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Lawrence, John
LAWRENCE, C.B. (Captain, 1817. f-p., 28; h-p., 26.)
John Lawrence entered the Navy, 18 Feb. 1793, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Berwick 74, Capts. Sir John Collins and Wm. Shield, and in the following Aug. was present at the occupation of Toulon. Accompanying Capt. Shield as Midshipman, in May, 1794, into the Sincere 20, he served in that vessel at the sieges of Bastia and Calvi; after which, on joining the Windsor Castle 98, flag-ship of the late Admiral Robt. Linzee, he took part in Hotham’s actions of 14 March and 13 July, 1795. Towards the close of the same year, being then with Capt. Jas. Macnamara in the Southampton 32, Mr. Lawrence assisted in compelling La Vestale of 36 guns, one of several French men-of-war that had just come out of the port of Genoa, to strike her colours. Between April, 1796, and Feb. 1799, we find him serving on the Mediterranean, Home, and Cadiz stations, in the Egmont 74 and Princess Royal 98, flag-ships of Admiral Linzee, Prince 98, bearing the flag of Sir Roger Curtis, Lively 32, Capt. Benj. Hallowell, Ville de Paris 110, bearing the flag of Earl St. Vincent, Romulus frigate, Capt. Geo. Hope, and Lively again, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris. He then became Acting-Lieutenant of the Alexander 74, Capts. Alex. John Ball and Manley Dixon, in which ship (being confirmed to her by commission dated 28 June in the same year) he continued until Oct. 1802. He was in consequence present at the capture, 18 Feb. 1800, of Le Généreux 74 and Ville de Marseilles store-ship; and he served also on shore at the sieges of Malta and the Castle of St. Elmo, at Naples. His after-appointments, as Lieutenant, were, on the North American station – 4 Feb. and 6 Oct. 1803, to the Lapwing and Boston frigates, Capts. Alex. Skene and John Erskine Douglas – 30 June, 1804 and 19 Aug. 1806, to the Leander and Leopard 50’s, Capts. A. Skene, John Talbot, and Salusbury Pryce Humphreys – and, 17 Sept. 1807, to the Bellona 74, Capt. J. E. Douglas. Of the Lapwing Mr. Lawrence was Senior when she effected an escape from a French squadron : he was present, in the Leander, at the capture, 23 Feb. 1805, of the Ville de Milan of 46 guns, and retaking of her prize the Cleopatra 32; and, when in the Leopard, he witnessed the surrender to that ship of the U.S. frigate Chesapeake, 22 June, 1807. In Jan. 1808 our officer was nominated Acting-Commander of the Observateur sloop, to which it was his fortune to be confirmed on 30 of the ensuing March. In 1809 he removed to the Driver, another sloop, in which, when in company with the Melampus 36, he assisted in taking the French 20-gun ship Fantôme. Being placed, in Aug. 1810, in command of the prize, Capt. Lawrence, who continued in her until Oct. 1814, was for some time, we understand, employed at the defence of Cadiz. In the early part of May, 1813, having returned to America, he took charge, at the particular request of Rear-Admiral Cockburn, of an expedition against the town of Havre de Grace, at the entrance of the Susquehanna river, and by the able and judicious manner in which he there silenced a heavy battery, as well as by the gallantry, zeal, and attention he showed at the destruction of a neighbouring cannon-foundry, one of the most valuable works of the kind in America, he called forth the Admiral’s highest encomiums and acknowledgments.[1] From the Fantome, which for a short time bore the flag of the latter officer, and proved the captor, 5 Oct. 1813, of a privateer, the Portsmouth Packet, of 5 guns and 45 men, Capt. Lawrence removed to the Recruit 16. He came home and was paid off in June, 1815; and on 8 Dec. in that year, as a reward for his services, was nominated a C.B. As a Post-Captain, a rank he attained 1 Jan. 1817, his appointments appear to have been – 31 Aug. 1822, to the Eden 26, fitting for the West Indies, where, we believe, he remained the usual period – and 4 June, 1839, to the Hastings 72, part of the force employed during the operations on the coast of Syria in 1840. Since the commencement of 1842, at which period the Hastings was put out of commission, Capt. Lawrence has been on half-pay.
His eldest daughter, Margaret Frances, was married, in 1840, to Rich. S. Bunce, Esq., First-Lieutenant R.M. (1839). Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813 [errata 1], p. 1331.