Lieutenant Samuel Hill Lawrence
Lieut Samuel Lawrence VC [1]
This page is based on an article [2] by Gareth Syvret and Neil Molyneux in the 2007 Annual Bulletin of La Société Jersiaise
Samuel Hill Lawrence was the son of Samuel Hill Lawrence born in Ardamine, Wexford, Ireland. Samuel senior, a Major in the 2nd Regiment of Foot, married Margaret McLeod. She was from Scotland and was the mother of Samuel junior, born in Cork in 1831. An older son, Henry Baynes Lawrence, was born in Guernsey in 1827, possibly to a previous wife. Another son, Hector, followed Samuel in 1833, and a daughter, Margaret in 1839, both of whom were born in Ireland.
Rouge Bouillon
By 1851 Samuel senior had died and Margaret, with her youngest son and daughter, were living in Jersey, renting a house in Rouge Bouillon, 3 Honeyden. Margaret may have decided to bring her family to Jersey to be near her older sister, Isabella, the wife of Colonel Charles Cadell (late of the 28th Regiment of Foot). The Cadells were living at Richmond Villa in Clarendon Road in 1851. The house was also rented and both the Cadells and Lawrences subsequently moved.
In 1855 Hector Lawrence, serving in the 34th Regiment of Foot, was killed during the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War. In August 1858 Margaret junior was married to Capt William Hamilton Richards, of Ardamine, at St Mark’s Church. At about this time Margaret senior, her children grown up, moved in to live with the Cadells, who were by then living at 2 Inkerman Villas, Almorah Road. She stayed there until Colonel Cadell’s death in 1866, after which she and her sister left the Island, possibly to return to their native Scotland.
Father's regiment
Samuel Hill Lawrence entered the Army in December 1847, joining his father’s old regiment. He served during the 2nd Sikh War in 1848-9, and was present at the Siege of Mooltan and at the Battle of Goojerate. By May 1857 he was stationed at Lucknow. The Mutiny did not spread there until June, giving the Chief Commissioner Sir Henry Lawrence (no relation) time to make preparations. The British forces at Lucknow were vastly outnumbered by Indian troops and so could only hope to sit it out in a defensible position, should the Mutiny break out there, until reinforcements arrived.
The Residency compound was chosen as the best place for a siege, but it was far from ideal. It had no walls and was hemmed in and overlooked by many buildings. These were demolished, or reduced in height in preparation for a siege, and buildings around the perimeter of the compound were joined together with hastily constructed barricades. The compound was provisioned with food, livestock, and ammunition.
By early July it was also crowded with European civilians, including many women and children. Once the siege began, the Residency compound was bombarded daily and the defenders, including Lieutenant Lawrence, often went for days with little sleep, constantly on the alert, and witness to the most dreadful scenes as their compatriots died around them.
Victoria Cross
Lawrence’s Regiment messed in the Residency itself where some, including his namesake Sir Henry, were killed while in the building. Lawrence and his men were defending the Redan which protruded out towards the River Gumti. He also participated in sorties to kill the attackers and disable their weapons. During one of these manoeuvres Lawrence showed the conspicuous bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross in November 1859.
Lieutenant Lawrence survived the siege and was promoted to Captain in January 1858 and Brevet-Major in March of the same year. He returned home to Jersey on 1 April 1858 and was perhaps at his sister’s wedding in August of that year. By November he was in London, where he received his summons to attend the Queen at Windsor Castle for the presentation of his medal.
In the same month he also attended a reunion of survivors of the siege. It is interesting to note that his cousin, Thomas Cadell, also served during the Mutiny and he, too, was awarded a Victoria Cross.
Lieutenant Lawrence exchanged into the 25th Regiment in December 1859. He later moved to the 8th Hussars and then the 11th Hussars before retiring from the Army in 1866. The reasons for these moves are not known but they were highly unusual. Most soldiers served in the same regiment throughout their careers, and, as commissions were normally purchased, such moves would have been expensive.
Death in Montevideo
Lawrence did not long survive his retirement as he died in Montevideo in Uruguay on 17 June 1868. It was said that he died of an illness contracted in India, the reasons for his presence in Uruguay are not known.
After Lawrence’s death the family connection with Jersey was resurrected for a time by his brother or half-brother Henry Baines Lawrence. By 1881 he and his family were living at Bel Air in St Saviour. Henry Lawrence had one son, who was born in Guernsey and was by then 13 years old. His name was Samuel Hill Lawrence, thus bearing the same name as his uncle and grandfather.
He went into the army as well as his namesakes, but curiously as a Private and not as an officer. Quite why is another mystery.
Notes and references
- ↑ This studio photograph of Lieutenant Lawrence in the uniform of the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars, and therefore taken after 1859, survives in the possession of a descendent. The portrait is of an unusual appearance, highly coloured and of a fine quality; properties that seem to befit the character and career of its subject
- ↑ The idea for this article arose when a copy of a portrait of an unidentified soldier was sent by a correspondent to the Lord Coutanche Library, Société Jersiaise. All that was known about the portrait was that it was of carte-de-visite format and carried, on the reverse, the studio mark of the jersey photographer Henry Mullins. The subject was eventually identified as Lieut Alfred Gibaut and it was found that he had been killed during the Indian Mutiny 1857-58. Research in local newspapers to establish the circumstances of his death brought to light the names of three other soldiers with Jersey connections who had also served during the Mutiny. One of these men, Lieutenant Samuel Hill Lawrence, although not born, and probably not educated in Jersey, had a strong connection with the island. His mother was living there when Lawrence returned on leave after becoming one of the earliest recipients of the Victoria Cross The authors felt that the story of these men and their photographs was worth telling for their own sakes, but also to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Indian Mutiny. Jersey in the 1850s was home to a comparatively large number of retired Army officers, wives and children of serving officers, and widows of officers. There was often more than one generation of the same family serving in the Army. News of the Mutiny was slow to arrive and the main events were not described until months after they had occurred. First reports were sketchy and often quite inaccurate. Further detail followed slowly until the final official military report appeared. Even then the fate of some British casualties remained undiscovered for years.
