William George Lawes (1 July 1839 – 6 August 1907) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born Congregationalist minister, missionary and public lecturer. He was regarded as an expert on Papua.

Life

Lawes was born in

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingsto ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, the son of Richard Lawes, a tailor, and his wife Mary, ''née'' Pickover, and was educated in Mortimer West End. Aged 14, Lawes went to work in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, where in 1858 Rev. William Gill came bringing with him a native from the island of

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...

. In the same year, Lawes volunteered for service with the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

. On 8 November 1860 Lawes married Fanny Wickham and 15 days later they sailed to Savage Island (now

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

). In 1868, Lawes was joined in Niue by his brother Frank. In 1872, Lawes began a lecture tour in Britain of his missions. Two years later he moved to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and settled in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

; his family became the first permanent European residents of Papua. Lawes became an expert in the Motuan language and friend of all the south coast tribes. Lawes served as interpreter for the Protectorate proclamation by James Elphinstone Erskine in 1884. In 1877 a colleague, James Chalmers arrived; Lawes left for England the next on furlough. Lawes had started eleven new missions in Papua and produced the first Papuan-language book. Lawes fought against the abuses in the Pacific labour trade. In 1885, Lawes was the unofficial adviser to Sir Peter Scratchley in his travel around the Papuan coast. In the same year, Lawes published ''Grammar and Vocabulary of Language spoken by Motu Tribe, New Guinea''. Lawes was also adviser to the colonial governor,

William MacGregor Sir William MacGregor, (20 October 1846 – 3 July 1919)R. B. Joyce,', ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 158–160. Retrieved 29 September 2009 was a Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guine ...

. In 1891, Lawes conducted a lecture tour of the colonies of Australia. In 1894, was awarded a doctorate of divinity by the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

on MacGregor's recommendation. Lawes retired in 1906, and moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

where he died on 6 August 1907.

Family

Lawes was survived by his wife and three of their six children. Lawes' son Frank worked as a government officer in the New Guinea protectorate and colony, he died there in 1894.

Legacy

Lawes is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of South Pacific lizard, '' Emoia lawesi.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Lawes", p. 152).

Notes

References

* H. J. Gibbney
"Lawes, William George (1839 - 1907)"
''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 69–70. accessed 28 August 2014 * * *

External links

* William George Lawes, ''Grammar and vocabulary of language spoken by Motu tribe (New Guinea)'' *
first edition
Sydney: Thomas Richards, 1885. *
second and revised edition
Sydney: Charles Potter, 1888. *
third and enlarged edition
Sydney: Charles Potter, 1896. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawes, William George 1839 births 1907 deaths People from West Berkshire District Congregationalist missionaries in Papua New Guinea Congregationalist missionaries in Niue English Congregationalist missionaries English Congregationalist ministers English emigrants to Australia British expatriates in Papua New Guinea British expatriates in Niue