Charles Lawrence (1776 – 1853) was a Liverpool merchant who served as

Mayor of Liverpool The mayor of Liverpool is the executive mayor of the city of Liverpool in England. The incumbent mayor is Joanne Anderson, who was elected in May 2021. The mayor of Liverpool was previously branded 'the most powerful politician in England outs ...

in 1823–4. He is primarily remembered as Chairman of the

Liverpool & Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

which opened in 1830.

Early life

Charles Lawrence was born in 1776 in Albemarle Street, London. He was the son of Richard James Lawrence and his wife Mary (b. Hall). In 1800, he married Rose D'Aguilar, poet and friend of

Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic statu ...

Business

The Lawrence family had business interests in the West Indies. It owned the Fairfield Estate in St James, Jamaica which produced variously coffee, sugar, molasses, rum and cattle. In 1830, Charles Lawrence part-inherited 199 slaves from the estate when his father died shortly before the abolition of slavery. He shared compensation with his mother when the slaves were freed. His activities as merchant were conducted from premises in Bridgewater Street, Liverpool, trading as Charles Lawrence & Son, the latter being George Hall Lawrence.

Politics

Charles Lawrence had Whig political sympathies at the time he was elected

for 1823–4.

Railway interests

Lawrence was pivotal in the development of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway along with others in Liverpool such as

Joseph Sandars Joseph Sandars (1785-1860) was a wealthy corn merchant based in Liverpool, UK. He played a major role in initiating development of the groundbreaking Liverpool & Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Early life Sandars' father, also called Jo ...

Henry Booth Henry Booth (4 April 1788 – 28 March 1869) was a British corn merchant, businessman and engineer particularly known as one of the key people behind the construction and management of the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M), the ...

and John Moss. Once the Act of Parliament authorised construction, he took over as chairman from John Moss and saw the project through to 1845 when the company merged with the

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

. He also served as Deputy Chairman of the Grand Junction Railway and invested in a number of other railway projects.

Family

The Lawrence family lived first at Wavertree Hall close to

Wavertree Lane railway station Wavertree Lane was one of the original stopping-places on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Stopping-places were commonly located at supervised level crossings where gatekeepers were available to signal trains to stop clo ...

. In 1843, the land was acquired by the corporation and ultimately formed the basis of Wavertree Park. Around 1839, the Lawrences moved to Carnatic Hall,

Mossley Hill Mossley Hill is a suburb of Liverpool and a Liverpool City Council ward. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, Childwall, and Wavertree. At the 2001 Census, the population was 12,650, increasing to 13,816 a ...

(the hall was destroyed by fire in 1891) where in 1847, they entertained Prime Minister Robert Peel during his visit to Liverpool to unveil Gibson's statue of

William Huskisson William Huskisson (11 March 177015 September 1830) was a British statesman, financier, and Member of Parliament for several constituencies, including Liverpool. He is commonly known as the world's first widely reported railway passenger casu ...

MP in front of the new Custom House (Huskisson had died due to an accident on the opening day of the Liverpool & Manchester railway). One of his three sons, George Hall Lawrence, was Mayor of Liverpool at this time. Charles Lawrence died in 1853.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Charles 1776 births 1853 deaths British railway entrepreneurs Businesspeople from Liverpool People from Mayfair People of the Industrial Revolution British railway pioneers