Sir Walter Roper Lawrence

Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, 1st Baronet, GCIE GCVO CB (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).

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

Walter Roper Lawrence served in the Indian Civil Service Punjab (1879–1895). He was appointed as the Settlement Commissioner for Jammu and Kashmir between 1889–1894, during the rule of Maharaja Pratap Singh. 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.

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.

He also accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales to British India as Chief of the Staff. 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. In 1918 he was on the staff of the Indian Air Force with the rank of a Major General.

In 1919, he served on the British Mission to Palestine and Syria.

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 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."

Death

He died at the age of 83 on 25 May 1940. His grandson is Walter Lawrence.