Samuel Hill Lawrence

Samuel Hill Lawrence VC (22 January 1831-17 June 1868) born in Cork he was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

His father, also called Samuel Hill, had a military career in the 32nd Foot and was wounded at Quatre Bras, the prelude to Waterloo. The Lawrence family formed part of the ‘Protestant Ascendancy’ in Ireland. Lawrence Snr. may have been master of the Orange Lodge at Nenagh around the year 1825 and is recorded as living at Belmont Cottage, Douglas Nr. Cork (Ireland) in 1837. His mother, Margaret Macdonald, was of Scots origin and, through her, Lawrence's ancestry can be traced back to early kings and patron saints of countries such as Scotland, Ireland, Norway and Russia.

Details

He was 26 years old, and a lieutenant, with a recent field promotion to captain, in the 32nd Regiment of Foot (later The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 7 July 1857 at Lucknow, India, Lieutenant Lawrence was the first person to mount a ladder to examine a house held by the enemy, in order to discover whether or not a mine was being driven from it. His pistol was knocked from his hand by one of the enemy while he was accomplishing this task. Also, on 26 September the Lieutenant charged, with two of his men, in advance of his company, and captured a 9-pounder gun.

He was recommended, by the board of officers which considered the claims of almost all those members of the 32nd Foot for Lucknow-related V.C.s, for a V.C. with bar. This suggestion was not taken up in later stages of the process. According to the fourth 'clause' of the original warrant creating the V.C., he would only have been eligible for a bar if he had already been decorated before the second V.C. action.

Further information

Cousin of Lieutenant Thomas Cadell, VC.

He later joined the 25th Regiment of Foot, 8th Hussarsand ended his military career, in about 1864, with the rank of major in the 11th Hussars. The United Services Gazette of 15 August 1868 (p8) reported that ‘Major Samuel Hill Lawrence V.C., late of the 11th Hussars, died on June 17 at Estancia del Arazati (sic) Monte Video (sic) , South America aged 37.’ (15)Uruguay 17 June 1868. In fact, Arazatí is in the 'departamento' ('province') of San Jose, not Montevideo. Research at both Montevideo, including the British Cemetery which is often quoted as his burial place, and Arazatí has, so far, failed to reveal his final resting place.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Museum "(Bodmin, Cornwall, England)". It was donated by a member of the Richards family, into which Lawrence's only surviving sister had married. Lawrence's campaign medals and miniatures are also on display at the museum.

References

Listed in order of publication year
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
*The Irish Sword (Brian Clarke 1986)
*Irelands VCs ISBN 1-899243-00-3 (Dept of Economic Development 1995)
*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)