Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/293

Lawrenson to ask for something, but, while his looks showed perfect intelligence, he was incapable of articulate speech. He was given some loose letters out of a child's spelling-box, and laid down the following four, BDCK. He shook his head and took up a pen, when a drop of ink fell on the paper. He nodded and pointed to it. 'You want some black drop' (a preparation of opium), said his physician, and this proved to be what he had tried to express.

He died 5 July 1867 at 18 Whitehall Place. He had lived there for many years. His earlier residences were from 1807 in John Street, Adelphi, and soon afterwards within the precinct of the College of Physicians in Warwick Lane, London.

A portrait of him by Pickersgill, subscribed for by his pupils, hangs in the committee-room of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and there is a fine bust of him in the College of Surgeons. He married Louisa, daughter of James Trevor Senior of Aylesbury, who died before him, and left one son and two daughters.  LAWRENSON, THOMAS (fl. 1760–1777), painter, is stated to have been a native of Ireland. He first appears in 1760 as an exhibitor at the first exhibition of the Society of Artists, sending a portrait of himself; he was subsequently a regular exhibitor until 1777, sending portraits or miniatures. In 1774 he exhibited a portrait which he had executed in 1783. A portrait of Lawrenson was painted and engraved in mezzotint by his son (see below). He drew and published a large engraving of Greenwich Hospital. Lawrenson signed the roll of the Society of Incorporated Artists in 1766, and is first styled a fellow of the society in 1774. He lived in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. There is a portrait by him of John O'Keeffe in the National Portrait Gallery.

(fl. 1760–1780), painter, son of the above, resided with his father. In 1760 and 1761 he obtained premiums from the Society of Arts. He was, like his father, a fellow of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and signed their roll in 1766. He first exhibited with them in 1762, sending a portrait. In 1763 and 1764 he sent portraits to the Free Society of Artists, but in 1766 returned to the former exhibition and continued to exhibit there till 1772, mostly crayon portraits, including in 1771 one of William Smith the actor as 'Iachimo,' which he engraved himself in mezzotint, and in 1769 one of Mrs. Baddeley. From 1774 till 1780 he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Many of his pictures were engraved, including Ann Catley [q. v.] as 'Euphrosyne by R. Dunkarton, Signora Sestini by John Jones, Benjamin West by W. Pether, Sir Eyre Coote by J. Walker, 'A Lady Haymaking,' 'Palemon and Lavinia,' 'Rosalind and Celia,' 'Cymon and Iphigenia' by John Raphael Smith. It is not known when he or his father died.  LAWRIE, WILLIAM (d. 1700?), tutor of Blackwood, was of the family of Lawrie of Auchenheath, in the parish of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire. He married Marion Weir, heiress of Blackwood and widow of Lieutenant-colonel James Ballantyne, a son of the laird of Corehouse. By her Lawrie had a son, George, who was heir to his mother's estates, and assumed the surname of Weir. Lawrie was tutor successively to his son, who died in April 1680 (General Retour, Nos. 6295, 7618, and, Retours, 1724), and to his grandson, afterwards Sir George Weir of Blackwood. He thus acquired the title by which he was commonly known—tutor or laird of Blackwood.

Besides managing his son's estate, Lawrie, in March 1670, was appointed factor on the extensive estates of James Douglas, second marquis of Douglas [q. v.], and gained complete control over his weak-minded master. He was credited with causing the breach between Douglas and his first wife, Lady Barbara Erskine, who died in 1690, and allusion is made to his share in the quarrel in the familiar ballad on the subject beginning

O waly, waly up the bank

(, Ballads of Scotland, pp. 189-94).

Lawrie was reputed to be a man of piety, and showed a kindly feeling towards the persecuted covenanters. His friendly attitude to them after the engagement at Pentland (28 Nov. 1666) led to his imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, but he was soon released. Some time after Bothwell Bridge