Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sir William Lawrence 1st Baronet
William Lawrence in 1839
Personal details
Born	16 July 1783 Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England
Died	5 July 1867(1867-07-05) (aged 83) Westminster, London, England
Spouse	Louise Lawrence ​ ​ (m. 1828; her death 1855)​
Children	Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet
Education	Elmore Court School
Profession	Surgeon

Sir William Lawrence (born July 16, 1783 – died July 5, 1867) was a famous English surgeon. He became the President of the Royal College of Surgeons of London. He also served as the Queen's special surgeon, known as Serjeant Surgeon.

When he was in his mid-thirties, William Lawrence wrote two books based on his lectures. These books shared ideas about human nature and how living things change over time, which were similar to Darwin's later ideas on evolution. However, his second book, published in 1819, caused a lot of strong criticism. People thought his ideas went against religious beliefs. Because of this, he was forced to take the book back. The Lord Chancellor, a high-ranking legal official, even said it was "blasphemous," meaning it was disrespectful to sacred things.

Despite this difficult time, Lawrence slowly regained his good reputation. His career as a surgeon became very successful. In 1822, he was chosen to be a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, USA. Just before he died in 1867, Queen Victoria honored him greatly. She gave him a special title called a baronetcy, which meant he became "Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet."

Early Life and Learning

William Lawrence was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. His father, also named William Lawrence, was the main surgeon and doctor in their town. His mother was Judith Wood. His family on his father's side was connected to the old Fettiplace family. His younger brother, Charles Lawrence, helped start the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester.

William went to school at Elmore Court School in Gloucester. When he was 15, he began training with a well-known surgeon named John Abernethy. He lived with Abernethy for five years while learning to be a surgeon.

Amazing Career as a Surgeon

William Lawrence was known as a brilliant student. He translated many anatomy books from Latin. He also knew a lot about the newest medical research from other countries. People liked him because he was good-looking and had a charming way about him. He was also an excellent speaker when giving lectures. Everyone agreed that he was a very skilled surgeon.

Lawrence helped a reformer named Thomas Wakley start a medical journal called The Lancet. He was also a key figure in large meetings in 1826 that pushed for changes in medicine. In 1828, he was elected to the Council of the RCS. He became its president twice, in 1846 and again in 1855.

Helping Hospitals and Patients

During his career, Lawrence held many important jobs. He was a Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons from 1815 to 1822. He also worked as a surgeon at hospitals like Bridewell and Bethlem. He worked at the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye. Later, he became an Assistant Surgeon and then a full Surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1824 to 1865.

Later in his career, Queen Victoria appointed him as her special surgeon. He was especially good at ophthalmology, which is the study and treatment of eye problems. However, he also practiced, lectured, and wrote about all other areas of surgery. Famous people like the architect Pugin and even Queen Victoria herself were his patients for eye issues.

The writers Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley also asked him for medical advice starting in 1814. Some historians think Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein might have been inspired by a debate between Lawrence and Abernethy about "vitalism." This was a big discussion at the time about what makes living things alive.

Even though he reached the very top of his profession and wrote excellent textbooks, Lawrence is often remembered most for a difficult period early in his career. This time brought him both fame and a bad reputation, almost ruining his future.

His Big Ideas and Challenges

After he was forced to take back his controversial book, Lawrence slowly got his good name back. But he did have some regrets. In 1830, he wrote to a friend, William Hone, explaining why he had to be careful. He praised Hone for having "much greater courage" in similar situations.

His last big contribution to these debates was an article on "Life" in a large encyclopedia called Rees's Cyclopaedia.

Lawrence continued to support new and bold ideas. He was part of a small group, led by Thomas Wakley, who started The Lancet journal. Lawrence wrote strong articles for it and led public meetings in 1826. He also co-owned a medical school called the Aldersgate Private Medical Academy.

What Happened at the 1826 Meetings

About 1200 people attended meetings for members of the Royal College of Surgeons. These meetings were held to protest how surgeons were unfairly using their power. They were setting high student fees and controlling who got important jobs.

In his opening speech, Lawrence criticized the College's rules. These rules stopped most teachers outside of a few big cities from giving official certificates for medical lectures. He pointed out that some cities, like Aberdeen and Glasgow, didn't even have enough bodies for students to learn anatomy properly.

A new rule was also going to make it harder for private summer schools. Diplomas earned in the summer would not be recognized. Lawrence said: "It would appear from the new regulations that sound knowledge was the sort acquired in the winter... while unsound knowledge was imparted in the summer." He ended his speech by protesting that great teachers in other parts of the country were not allowed to give recognized certificates.

Changes and New Respect

Over time, Lawrence started to fit in more with the Royal College of Surgeons. He was elected to their Council in 1828. This upset Wakley a little, who complained in The Lancet. But Wakley soon realized that Lawrence's position inside the College could help him push for the changes he wanted. For some years, Lawrence worked both with The Lancet and the College.

From the inside, Lawrence helped bring about many important reforms that Wakley supported. The College of Surgeons finally changed some of its rules with a new charter in 1843. This period marked Lawrence's full return to being respected. In fact, he took over from Abernethy as the main leader at Bart's.

His desire for respect and success might have been influenced by his marriage in 1828. At 45, he married 25-year-old Louisa Senior, who was ambitious in society.

From then on, Lawrence's career only went up. He became President of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Queen's Serjeant-Surgeon. Before he died, the Queen made him a baronet. He had refused such honors for many years. Family stories say he finally accepted to help his son try to marry a noble young woman, though it didn't work out. After this, he never again openly shared his ideas on evolution or the future of humans. However, he did warn a young scientist named T.H. Huxley not to talk about the risky topic of human evolution, but Huxley didn't listen.

In 1844, a scientist named Carl Gustav Carus visited Lawrence. Carus said Lawrence seemed to have been scared by the criticism he received and was now just a practicing surgeon. He felt Lawrence had put aside his big ideas about life and the mind. Looking back in 1860, Lawrence himself wrote that the debates with Abernethy, "though important at the time... have long ceased to occupy my thoughts."

In 1828, he became a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1855, he was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His Thoughts on Evolution

The careful way the book Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation was published in 1844 (without an author's name), and how very careful Charles Darwin was when he published his own ideas on evolution, show how important it was to avoid upsetting religious groups. In 1838, Darwin wrote in his notebook about Lawrence's book, "Lectures on physiology, zoology, and the natural history of man." Historians think Darwin worried about what might happen if he published his own ideas.

In Lawrence's time, laws against speaking out against the government (sedition) and against religious beliefs (blasphemy) were even more serious than in Darwin's time. Darwin mentioned Lawrence's 1819 book six times in his own book, Descent of Man (1871).

Lawrence's book, Natural history of man, had some amazing ideas that were ahead of their time. But it was strongly stopped from being read. Even today, many history books about evolution don't mention Lawrence's important work. He is often left out of books about Darwin, evolution textbooks, and even stories about science and religion before Darwin.

Darwin found only one idea of interest in Lawrence's work: sexual selection in humans (how certain traits are chosen for mating). However, Lawrence's influence on Alfred Russel Wallace was more positive. Wallace found in Lawrence's work a possible way for living things to change: through natural variations that lead to new species.

How Traits Are Passed Down

Lawrence noticed that different human groups (races) showed changes in the human species. He thought that being separated by geography might be important. Lawrence saw that racial characteristics were passed down from parents to children. They were not just caused by things like climate. For example, he looked at how children of African origin born in cooler places still had their skin color develop without much sun. This showed that climate didn't directly cause these differences.

Lawrence's ideas about how traits are passed down were many years ahead of his time. He wrote: "The offspring inherit only [their parents'] connate peculiarities and not any of the acquired qualities." This clearly means that traits learned or gained during a parent's life are not passed to children. This was a strong rejection of the idea that parents could pass on traits they developed (called soft inheritance or Lamarckism).

What Was in His Second Book?

Early Parts of the Book

Lawrence's book started with a lecture from 1817. He also replied to the criticisms made by Mr. Abernethy. He discussed the history and progress of comparative anatomy (comparing the body structures of different animals).

Lawrence began by saying he had to defend himself from being accused of spreading harmful ideas. He was accused of trying to weaken the rules that keep society safe. In a long note, Lawrence said that Abernethy's criticism was like "water in a medical prescription," meaning it was just a way to deliver stronger, more active ingredients (his accusations). It was clear that the conflict started before Lawrence's book was even published.

The early part of Lawrence's 1819 book shows his reaction to Abernethy's attack. Abernethy had accused him of being a "materialist," meaning he believed that everything, including the mind, was purely physical. After a long introduction where Lawrence praised freedom of speech, he got to the main point: "It is alleged that there is a party of modern sceptics... co-operating... with a no less terrible band of French physiologists, for the purpose of demoralising mankind!" He asked, "Where... shall we find proofs of this heavy charge?"

Lawrence then argued that animal functions cannot be separated from animal organs. He asked if we don't see the mind being built up by our senses and developing abilities. He said that, from a medical point of view, the idea of a "soul" has nothing to do with how the body works. He believed that medical questions should be answered with medical evidence. This means he supported using rational thought and empiricism (learning from experience and observation) instead of religious beliefs. He strongly believed that mental activity came from the brain, not from ideas like the 'soul'.

Clues from Rocks and Fossils

Lawrence's discussion of stratigraphy (the study of rock layers) was very interesting. He noted that the oldest rock layers contained the remains of animals that were very different from animals alive today. As you looked at newer layers closer to the surface, the fossils became more like current species.

He mentioned scientists like Cuvier, Brongniart, and Lamarck in France, and Parkinson in Britain, who studied fossils. He talked about "extinct races of animals," which were "authentic memorials of beings" that lived long before humans.

Ideas About Human Groups

Chapter VII of his book discussed whether different human groups (races) had similar diseases. It ended with a list of reasons why humans belong to one distinct species. These reasons were mostly about body structure and some behaviors, like speech. These ideas are still considered valid today.

He then discussed the many differences among humans and between different races. He also looked at what caused these differences. In Chapter IX, he asked if these differences were present from the very beginning of the human species or if they developed later. If they developed later, were they caused by outside things like climate, or by natural, inborn variations?

He said that people always thought climate had a big influence. But he showed that there was "abundance of proof" that climate alone could not explain the differences between human races. He clearly showed that differences between races (and between different types of farm animals) are passed down from parents. They are not caused directly by the environment. Then he admitted: "We do not understand the exact nature of the process by which it is effected." So, he rejected Lamarckism (the idea that acquired traits are inherited) but had not yet thought of natural selection.

How Changes Happen

Even though Lawrence said he didn't know exactly how differences between races came about, some parts of his book hinted at a process. In Chapter IX, he wrote: "These signal diversities which constitute differences of race in animals... can only be explained by two principles... namely, the occasional production of an offspring with different characters from those of the parents, as a native or congenital variety; and the propagation of such varieties by generation." This means that sometimes, offspring are born with new traits that are different from their parents, and these new traits can then be passed on. He gave examples of new traits appearing in litters of kittens or sheep. This idea is similar to what we now know as Mendelian inheritance and how traits separate.

These passages show that Lawrence understood how traits were passed down much better than most people at his time, even better than Darwin in some ways. He was very close to having a full theory of evolution, only missing the idea of selection.

The Word 'Biology'

Many people have been said to be the first to use the word biology. However, according to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), Lawrence was the first person to use this word in the English language, in 1819.

Challenging Old Beliefs

Lawrence's honesty and direct way of speaking led him to say things that went against the Bible, which was very risky. He wrote that the stories of all animals being brought before Adam and later collected in Noah's Ark were "zoologically impossible."

He also said that many people, including learned religious scholars, doubted if the Old Testament was entirely inspired by God. He thought the stories of creation had an "allegorical character," meaning they were symbolic stories common in Eastern writings.

Lawrence argued that astronomers don't describe the movements of stars based on Jewish scriptures. Geologists don't change their findings to fit the stories in the Bible. He concluded that these subjects should be open for discussion based on scientific evidence. Passages like these, which followed the ideas of British empiricism (learning through observation) and the Age of Enlightenment (a period of new ideas about reason and science), were likely pointed out to the Lord Chancellor. In the Lord Chancellor's view, the subject was definitely not open for discussion.

His Home Life

Ealing Park Home

In June 1838, Lawrence bought a large house called Ealing Park with about 100 acres of land. He paid £9,000 for it. The house was described as "Low and long; nine bays with pediment over the centre and an Ionic one-storeyed colonnade all along." It was beautifully furnished. The estate also had many animals, including poultry, cows, sheep, and pigs. There were thousands of plants, including more than 600 plants in early greenhouses and nearly a hundred camellias.

However, Lawrence and his family mainly lived at Whitehall Place in City of Westminster, London. His son later sold Ealing Park.

Family Life

On August 4, 1823, Lawrence married Louisa Senior (1803–1855). She was the daughter of a fabric seller from Mayfair. Louisa became well-known in society through her love of gardening. They had two sons and three daughters. Their older son died when he was a child. Their second son, Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet, became a famous gardener and was the President of the Royal Horticultural Society for many years. One daughter died at 18 months old, and the other two never married.

Here are their children:

• William James (born October 10, 1829 – died around November 5, 1839)
• John James Trevor (born December 30, 1831 – died December 22, 1913)
• Mary Louisa (born August 28, 1833 – died around March 7, 1835)
• Louisa Elizabeth (born February 22, 1836 – died January 4, 1920)
• Mary Wilhelmina (born November 1, 1839 – died November 24, 1920)

Louisa Lawrence died on August 14, 1855. William Lawrence suffered a stroke while going down the stairs at the College of Surgeons. He died on July 5, 1867, at his home in London.