John and George Lawrenson are brothers. John was a General, Colonel of the 13th Hussars, who died in London in 1883 aged eighty-one.
His career in the army was distinguished. He joined the 13th Light Dragoons as a Cornet aged sixteen in 1818 and was posted with his regiment to Madras the following year. In 1822 he transferred into the 4th Dragoon Guards stationed in Ireland. By the time he was twenty-three he had been made a Captain and in 1827 he moved regiment again to join the 17th Lancers. He served with them until 1845 when he went back to his original regiment, the 13th Hussars, as their Lieutenant-Colonel. So far he had seen no active service but this changed in 1851 when he was given command of another of his old regiments, the 17th Light Dragoons. He had three years to get to know them again before they were sent to war in the Crimea as part of the Light Brigade. Their first engagement was at the Battle of Alma after which Colonel Lawrenson caught cholera and was sent back to England. This probably saved his life as only thirty-eight of the 145 men in the 17th survived their ill-fated charge at Balaclava. Lawrenson recovered and returned to the Crimea as a Brigadier-General in command of the Heavy Brigade. He stayed on in the army after the Crimea being made a Major-General in 1860, Lieutenant-General in 1868 and a full General in 1875 before retiring two years later.
George Lawrenson, like his brother, had been brought up in Scotland and went to St Andrew’s University at the improbably young age of fourteen. He was commissioned into the Bengal Artillery in 1819 and saw active service long before his brother. In 1824 he was a Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Bengal Artillery in the Anglo-Burmese War. He did not take part in the First Afghan War (1839-1842) but he later had a prominent role in the Punjab Wars, being mentioned in dispatches and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. He died while on Leave in Cape Town in 1856, aged fifty-three.
It is unclear why the Lawrenson’s have a memorial in Margravine Cemetery but I think it’s a reasonable assumption that Mary and/or Georgina lived locally. The conspicuous headstone is near those of other prominent locals.
(All the material in this post was gleaned from this article by author David Gibbins, that has much more detail and excellent illustrations.)
After a quick look up, John Lawrenson died at the Alexandra Hotel Hyde Park. Mary Lawrenson died in Leamington, previously living in Bath and Clifton. Georgina died in Bath, had lived there for many years.
Good detective work and now I’d like to know why the memorial is in Margravine Cemetery.