PEN PICTURE OF JOHN BATES LAWRENCE
ONE OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF ROYAL LIVER
John Bates Lawrence is regarded by many as the “leading light” and driving force behind the Society upon its formation in 1850 and during its immediate formative years over the next decade.
He served as a Trustee of the Society from 1850 to 1861 and also acted as Secretary during the period 1853 – 1861.
Such records as exist to this day give us a picture of a man born into the Liverpool of 1816, a time of widespread poverty and illness amongst working class people and their families. His formative years, spent in such an environment, were no doubt a major influence in his later successful efforts to provide a means of alleviating financial hardship and, worse, the shame of a pauper’s grave.
In common with many of his Liverpool contemporaries, John Bates Lawrence began his working life as a mariner and at the time of his marriage to Mary Slater in 1838 he was still earning a living from the sea. Shortly after, however, and during the 1840s, he became an Estate Agent and also a Collector for the Loyal Philanthropic Friendly Society. This experience, together with a realisation of the dire need to provide financial protection for bereaved families, inspired him, together with others, to form the Royal Liver Friendly Society in 1850.
In addition to being Secretary and Trustee of the Society, his prominence in the first decade of our existence is evidenced by the fact that each of the Society’s first four Head offices was also the home of the Lawrence family.
In 1861, John Bates Lawrence was discharged from the service of the Society apparently due to a management disagreement. In short, he fell out with the newly installed “Joint Managing Directors in the persons of James Atherton and Henry Liversage, to whom we shall be introduced subsequently.
None of this, however, seemed to deter John Bates Lawrence form carving out a new life for himself and his family and in 1865 he set sail on the “Andrew Jackson” to undertake further ventures in New Zealand. Although his association with the Society ended in 1861, it was recorded in our archives that he went on to lead a full and adventurous life in New Zealand, starting several more business ventures and even fending off Maori raids!!
He died in New Zealand in 1904 and was laid to rest in Waikumete Cemetery, in the coffin which had apparently accompanied him on all his travels since it was made for him in 1838, several years before he brought about the establishment of Royal Liver. The departure of John Bates Lawrence led to a new regime taking effect at Royal Liver from 1861 until the 1880s and this period will be dealt with in a separate Blog.