• Name: Lawrence, Sir Thomas
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 17  April  1769
• Death Date: 7  January  1830
• Occupation: portrait painter
• Occupation: draughtsman

There are a number of Lawrences identified in the diary so attribution is difficult. Accordingly we have attributed contacts to three different Lawrences, as justified in the following discussion. In addition there are nineteen Lawrence entries that cannot be identified definitively as one of the following three individuals and which may be accessed by searching under Lawrence.. Cases where we are sure that the entry does not refer to one of the three individuals have been left uncoded.

The most frequently mentioned Lawrence is the portrait painter and draghtsman, Sir Thomas Lawrence, who sketched Godwin and Holcroft at the Treason Trials of 1794, and for whom Godwin sat in the 1790s. The key period of their association is in the decade of the 1790s.

James (Chevalier) Lawrence was a writer and advocate of naturism. He initially calls on Godwin in 1802. but Godwin also meets him at the British Museum and in the company of Boinville and Newton . Lawrence is also consulted by Shelley. The DNB suggests that he is largely out of the country from the mid-eighteen teens.

Sir William Lawrence was a surgeon, and from 1815 Professor of anatomy and surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. He was consulted both by Mary Shelley (in 1814) and Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1815. Godwin first notes 'Lawrence, surgeon' in his diary in 1812.

The vast majority of refs seem to be to the artist. This assumption is based both on the number of entries that are clearly to the artist ('Sit to Lawrence', 'Lawrence, pictures' etc) and the fact that these are not distinguished from other, not obviously artistic appearances, by the use of an initial. There is also a continuity in the kind of conversations Godwin has when sitting to Lawrence and when seeing him socially.

However, St Clair indicates that James Lawrence is close to John Frank Newton, so much so that it is likely that Lawrences recorded at Newton's are recorded as James Lawrence, (although William Lawrence, surgeon is also recorded at Newton's, so that it is by no means certain which is being referred to when there is no initial). It also seems likely that it is James Lawrence on 15 April 1810, since this follows a number of mentions of James Lawrence. But on 19 December 1813 and 27 December 1813 it is less clear. Lawrences linked to the British Museum have also been identified as James Lawrence, given his writings, but this is not certain.

Moreover, Thomas Lawrence was increasingly mirred in financial difficulties in the 1800s and lead an increasingly retiring private life, so that it seems likely that Godwin would have seen less of him and that Lawrence might increasingly have been used to refer to another, probably James Lawrence. Godwin's contacts with Lawrence had dropped to once or twice a year after 1802. In 1805 these were two adv entries at the Theatre; in 1806, one such entry; in 1807 two 'meet' entries; in 1808, two adv encounters, one at the theatre. This does not suggest regular intimacy. Both 1809 Lawrences are James Lawrence; and four of the six 1810 entres are James Lawrence, one of the others being with Newton and likely to be James Lawrence; the other being a 'call on Godwin' which is unusual for Thomas Lawrence but which has been left as him. So too has a Lawrence call in 1811, and one in 1812 with Nathanial Godwin, but the identification is far from certain. In 1813 although several of the entries are plain Lawrence these seem to refer to James Lawrence, being mainly associated with Newton or with the Museum. There are no contacts in 1814. In 1815 the entries are plain Lawrence but refer to advs in the Museum or Red Cross Library, and so are coded for James Lawrence. Moreover, it is in 1815 that Thomas Lawrence is knighted - and there is no reference to Sir Thomas Lawrence until 1821 which suggests that there is some gap between Thomas Lawrence appearing as Lawrence and the 1821 entry. This is compatible with the fact that Lawrence spends some time abroad between 1817 and 1820. But this makes the entries between 1815-1821 very uncertain. The 1816 entry is an adv at the theatre, which has been left as Thomas Lawrence. There is a call on Lawrence in April 1817 and the adv at the theatre in Dec 1817 is compatible with Lawrence having been in England when Princess Charlotte, whose portrait he painted, died in November 1817. Thereafter he seems to have left for the continent and the suggestion is that he did not return 1820.

The DNB suggests that it is about this time that James Lawrence also leaves for the continent and leads 'a roving life', but it is not clear whether this included occasional returns to Britain. There is an entry for the surgeon in 1818 and an adv at the Theatre (this has been coded as Thomas Lawrence); and then nothing until 1821, when Lawrence calls and Godwin then dines at his house with Booth, Wilkins, R Hunter and JL. This is unlikely to be Thomas Lawrence, not least because it is in that year that he first enters 'sir T Lawrence' in the Diary (and that is an adv. at the theatre); Other Lawrences in 1821 are reasonably consistently associated with Booth. The 1822 Lawrence is at Boinville's, but also with Booth and with L and M Lamb (children of Dr William Lamb). There is then an absence until 1828 when there are two entries for Lawrence calling with W (William Godwin junr).

Sir Thomas Lawrence died on 7 January 1830. The two subsequent references to Lawrence in 1830 are to his pictures, as is one reference in 1833. There is also a Jas Lawrence entry in 1833 - an adv linked to the Museum (which suggests a return of James Lawrence). And in 1834 there is a single entry for a Lawrence when he dines at Woods, in a party including Mary Shelley and Percy junior.

St Clair identifies James (Chevalier) Lawrence as a friend of Mrs Boinville (p. 263, 338) but suggests that Godwin knew him well having met him first in 1796 (there is an entry in the diary for 13 September 1796 where he calls on Mr J Lawrence), and seeing him regularly at the British Museum. But the DNB suggests that James Lawrence had in fact lived entirely on the continent between 1793 and 1800 so this Lawrence has been left uncoded.

On 16 September 1812 Godwin records seeing Jane, Captain Edwards, Lawrence and son, and others. Neither Thomas or James Lawrence married or, as far as can be ascertained, had children. Also William Lawrence (later Sir William) the radical surgeon did not marry until 1828, and it is he that sems to be distinguished by Godwin as Lawrence,surgeon; he also has a brother Charles and it is likely the two who are identified as W and C Lawrence in 1813. But the Lawrence and son is probably an anomaly - someone Godwin met on his travels, since it is during one of his trips to Minehead and Wales that they appear in the diary. This instance, and other Lawrences which could not be linked to one of the Lawrences above, have been left uncoded.

Godwin records his death.

• MS. Abinger c. 53, fols. 8-10, 16-17, 28-30, 43
• MS. Abinger c. 54, fol..24
• MS. Abinger c. 22, fol. 4
• MS. Abinger c. 15, fol. 39
• MS. Abinger c. 2, fol. 93
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 14, 18v-19r, 24
• MS. Abinger c. 2, fol. 93
• MS. Abinger c. 15, fols. 40-41
• MS. Abinger c. 44, fol. 29
• DNB
• St Clair
• D.E. Williams, The Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lawrence, 2 vols. (London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831)

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.