Walter Roper Lawrence

Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, Bt GCIE CB GCVO
File:Walter Lawrence Vanity Fair 15 June 1905.jpg
Born	(1857-02-09)9 February 1857 Moreton, Herefordshire, England
Died
Occupation	Baronet, Author
Notable work	The Valley of Kashmir (1895); The India we served (1929);
Spouse(s)	Lilian Lawrence
Parent(s)	George Lawrence and Catherine Lewis

Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, 1st Baronet, GCIE CB GCVO (9 February 1857 – 25 May 1940) was a member of the British Council-09 and an English author who served in the Indian Civil Service under the British in India and wrote 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 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).

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

Life in British India

Sir Walter Roper Lawrence served in the Indian Civil Service Punjab (1879–1895), during which he was a Settlement Commissioner of Kashmir. 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.

Sir Walter Roper Lawrence was the first man who reported about the miseries faced by the people of Kashmir under the autocratic rule of Dogras. He wrote in his book The Valley of Kashmir:

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."

Sir Walter Roper Lawrence served as Private Secretary to Viceroy of India Lord Curzon during 1899–1903. He also accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales to British India as Chief of the Staff. As an author his major works are The Valley of Kashmir (1895) and The India we served (1929). He died at the age of 83 on 25 May 1940.

See also

• Lawrence Baronets