Foster 829

Sir Henry Lawrence (1806-57). Made c.1849

Draped bust. Plaster, 12 ins (30.5 cms) high.

Inscribed: ‘W T Hale. 65 Edgware Road, London’

Deposited on permanent loan by the late Lady Alice Stokes in memory of her husband Sir Hopetoun Gabriel Stokes (I.C.S. 1896-1935), 10 July 1976.

Lady Alice was a great grand-daughter of Sir Henry Lawrence and second cousin of Sir John W. Lawrence, OBE. Soldier and administrator, Lawrence joined the Bengal Artillery, 1823, and served in the First Burma War and the Sikh Wars; Resident in Nepal 1843-46; Resident in Lahore 1847; Agent to the Governor-General in the Punjab and later in Rajputana, 1855; Chief Commissioner in Oudh, 1856; killed while defending Lucknow during the Mutiny.

This plaster bust is a small replica of the marble (N.P.G., London, (1989) 30.75 ins (78 cms) high) executed by Thomas Campbell, dated 1849 and exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. The two busts are similar in composition, though the marble is much finer in execution. The only obvious difference is in the treatment of the drapery which in the marble is clipped with a round brooch on the right shoulder and has slightly different folds. The base of the plaster is rectangular, whereas that of the marble is round. A full size replica in marble of the N.P.G. version is in the collection of Sir John Lawrence OBE. This is inscribed ‘W Theed. Sc Copio 1874’ and was made by the sculptor, William Theed (1804-91). It has not been possible to trace W.T. Hale, the maker of the present plaster bust, but he was most probably head of a firm of commercial sculptors, who specialised in reduced replicas of this kind. Lawrence had gone on leave to England in 1848 and had shaved off his beard on the boat.