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{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, Bt
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=UK|GCIE|GCVO|CB}}
| image = Walter Lawrence Vanity Fair 15 June 1905.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1857|2|9|df=y}}
| birth_place = Moreton, [[Herefordshire]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1940|5|25|1857|2|9|df=y}}
| death_place =
| occupation = [[Baronet]], Author
| spouse = Lilian Lawrence
| parents = George Lawrence and Catherine Lewis
| notable_works = ''[[The Valley of Kashmir]]'' (1895); ''The India we served'' (1929);
|}}

'''Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, 1st Baronet''', {{post-nominals|country=UK|GCIE|GCVO|CB}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34898 |date=16 July 1940 |page=4398 }}</ref> (9 February 1857 – 25 May 1940) was a member of the [[United Kingdom|British]] Council-09<ref>{{cite web |last=Lundy |first=Darryl |url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p49486.htm|title=Sir Walter Roper Lawrence|publisher=thepeerage.com|accessdate=2012-06-22}}{{Verify credibility|failed=y |date=February 2013}}</ref> and an English author who served in the [[Indian Civil Service]] under the [[British India|British in India]] and wrote [[Travel literature|travelogues]] based on his experiences of traveling around the [[Indian Subcontinent]]. Over the course of his wanderings, he developed a close affinity with the [[Indian people|Indian]] and [[Kashmiri people]], who figure prominently in his work. His best-known books are ''[[The Valley of Kashmir]]'' (1895) and ''The India we Served'' (1929).

Walter Roper Lawrence was born on 9 February 1857 at his home town [[Moreton-on-Lugg]], [[Herefordshire]], England, the son of George Lawrence and Catherine Lewis. He married Lilian Gertrude James on 18 March 1885.

==Life in British India==
[[File:Sir Walter Lawrence house, East Grinstead, Sussex, England. Terrace.jpg|thumb|left|Sir Walter Roper Lawrence house, East Grinstead, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1925]]

Walter Roper Lawrence served in the [[Indian Civil Service]] Punjab (1879–1895).<ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.ampltd.co.uk/digital_guides/indian_during_the_raj_part_3/contents-of-reels.aspx|title=Sir Walter Lawrence designations|publisher=ampltd.co.uk|accessdate=2012-06-22}}
</ref> He was appointed as the Settlement Commissioner for [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] between 1889–1894, during the rule of Maharaja [[Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir|Pratap Singh]].<ref name="Dov Gavish">
{{cite book | author=Dov Gavish | title=A Survey of Palestine Under the British Mandate, 1920–1948 |year=2005 | publisher=Routledge, 2005 | isbn=9780714656519 | page=275–276}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.koausa.org/culture/walnuts.html|title=Walnut In Pandit Heritage – Rituals and Recipes|publisher=koausa.org|accessdate=2012-07-06}}
</ref> While traveling in Kashmir, he recorded and produced a brief history on account of the geography, the culture of the people and the tyrannic Dogra rule over Kashmir. During his brief visit to [[Kashmir Valley]], he authored, a first ever recorded, a complete encyclopaeda of Kashmir, ''[[The Valley of Kashmir]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

In 1896, Lawrence left the Indian Civil Service. He was recalled by the [[Viceroy of India]] [[Lord Curzon]] to act as private secretary. Lawrence served this role during 1899–1903.<ref name="Dov Gavish"/>

He also accompanied the Prince and Princess of [[Wales]] to [[British India]] as Chief of the Staff.<ref name="Dov Gavish"/><ref name="Helene Petrovna Blavatsky">
{{cite book | author=Helene Petrovna Blavatsky | title=Theosophical Quarterly Magazine, 1928 to 1929 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNiMqi53LcoC&pg=PA178&dq=Sir+Walter+Roper+Lawrence+-inauthor:%22Sir+Walter+Roper+Lawrence%22&output=html_text&cd=7 | accessdate=22 June 2012 |year=1929 | publisher=Kessinger Publishing, 2003 | isbn=9780766152861 | page=178–}}
</ref>
In 1907, he served as a member of the Council of India. During the First World War, he worked on various missions for the Secretary of State for War [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Herbert Kitchener]]. In 1918 he was on the staff of the Indian Air Force with the rank of a Major General.<ref name="Dov Gavish"/>

In 1919, he served on the British Mission to Palestine and Syria.<ref name="Dov Gavish"/>

==Works==
As an author his major works are ''The Valley of Kashmir'' (1895) and ''The India we served'' (1929).

Lawrence was the first man who reported about the miseries faced by the people of Kashmir under the autocratic rule of [[Dogra]]s.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} He wrote in his book ''The Valley of Kashmir'':
{{quote|The passage from Hazlitt‘s life of Napoleon, Bonaparte gives a fair idea of Kashmir before the settlement commenced: "The peasants were overworked, half-starved, treated with hard words and hard blows, subjected to unceasing exactions and every species of petty tyranny... While in the cities a number of unwholesome and useless professions, and a crowd of lazy menials, pampered the vices or administered to the pride and luxury of the great."<ref name="Sir Walter Lawrence">
{{cite book | author=Sir Walter Roper Lawrence | title=The Valley of Kashmir |year=1895 | publisher=Asian Educational Services, 1895 | isbn=978-81-206-1630-1 |page=2–}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=December 2016}}}}

==Death==
He died at the age of 83 on 25 May 1940. His grandson is [[Walter Lawrence (cricketer)|Walter Lawrence]].

==See also==
* [[Lawrence Baronets]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new|Creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lawrence baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Sloane Gardens)''' | years=1906–1940}}
{{s-aft|after=Percy Lawrence}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Walter Roper}}
[[Category:1857 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:English travel writers]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:19th-century English people]]

Walter Roper Lawrence - Revision history

imported>CrumbleCrumble at 20:44, 13 November 2020