Skip to main content

Sergeant William Lawrence - Dorset Soldier

William Lawrence was a Dorset soldier who fought the French from 1808-1813 and again at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Yet, despite this, he married a French girl, Clotilde Clairet from St Germain-en-Laye some ten miles from the centre of Paris. Returning to civilian life at the age of 28, he ran an inn with his wife at Studland.

Born in 1791, and from a large impoverished Briantspuddle family, he was compelled to seek out his own livelihood at an early age. Initially, he was paid just two old pennies (1p) per day to frighten birds off corn fields and then he worked as a ploughboy earning just six old pence per day. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to Henry Bush, a Studland builder. Running away from a harsh master, William Lawrence joined the British Army.

William Lawrence served in the war in South America in 1805 and through the whole of the Spanish Peninsular War. He was awarded a silver medal with no less than ten clasps representing the battles in which he fought and survived. These were Roleia, Vimiera, Talavera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelles, Orthes & Toulouse. He was severely wounded at Badajoz but later recovered. It was while injured at Badajoz, that he met the British Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Wellington. 

After proceeding for some way, I fell in with Lord Wellington and his staff who, seeing me wounded, asked me which regiment I belonged to. One of his staff then bound up my leg with a silk handkerchief and told me to go behind a hill where I would find a doctor to dress my wounds.’

Among his other experiences was being sentenced to 400 lashes for being absent without leave and receiving 175 of them.

Sergeant William Lawrence died on the 11th November 1869 and is buried in Studland Churchyard. His wife, Clotilde had died 16 years earlier.

He was illiterate yet before he died he was able to dictate his memoirs and in 1886 they were published. They represent one of the most important sources of information on the life in the ordinary ranks of the British Army during Napoleonic times. They sit alongside the memoirs of another ordinary Dorset soldier of the time, Benjamin Harris from Stalbridge. Unfortunately, a little less is known about another fellow Napoleonic Dorset soldier, Henry Maidment from Pimperne.

(Source: Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence, a Hero of the Peninsular & Waterloo Campaigns – edited by Eileen Hathaway.)

(Image: Gravestone of Sergeant William Lawrence.)




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Panda Pops

Panda  Blue Rasperry Ade, Strawberry Jelly & Ice Cream and Casper Ghostly Limeade were all unique soft drink flavours produced by the Panda Pops brand owned by Badger Beers. Panda Pops were often sold in small bottles of fizzy drink that were as sweet and sticky as it was as possible for them to be. Other popular Panda Pop flavours were Cherry Ade and Bright Green Cola. Even more singular blends could be concocted by mixing two or more flavours in a Panda Pops mixing bowl. Panda Cola achieved a sort of cult status and there is even a song, ‘ Warm Panda Cola’ . While among Panda aficionados there was even the spoof blend of Princess Diana Memorial flavour! The Blandford drink competed remarkably well against American giants Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. Panda Pops date back to the 1960s when the Blandford brewer dropped the name of Sunparlor for its soft drink brands. Sunparlor had also been the name of a winning race horse owned by a member of the Woodhouse family. Cream soda was...

Holton Heath's Tragic Explosion

Ten were killed and 23 were injured according to newspaper reports at the time. This made it one of Dorset’s worst ever industrial accidents. Holton Heath employees were blown into unrecognisable fragments necessitating a roll call of the factory’s entire staff before the identities of those killed were identified. Eleven men were originally believed to have been killed but when a roll call was held one turned up. A crimson red plume of acid vapour had towered into the sky resembling the shuddering eruption of a volcano. It was caused by the bursting of a sulphuric acid tank. Close by low buildings vanished and the shock affected houses for 20 miles with roof slates dislodged, ornaments knocked down and windows broken. The sound of the explosion could be heard at Shillingstone some 18 miles away. Closer to the factory, a hoe was wrenched from the hands of a gardener who was flung against a tree. One fortunate employee, Charles Rogers owed his life to having to leave, just before the ...

True Lovers Knot - a Tragic Tale

True Lovers Knot public house describes itself as a traditional  inn set in a picturesque Dorset valley in Tarrant Keynston. Yet, this historical hostelry is said to have gained its name from a particularly tragic tale and still to be haunted by a distressed former publican. This publican’s son met and fell in love with the daughter of the local squire. Because the young lad was not from the gentry they decided to keep their relationship secret from her father. Unfortunately, a stable hand saw the two young lovers together and told her father. Set firmly against this friendship the squire made plans to send his daughter away from the district. Not able to face up to life without her boyfriend, the young girl decided to commit suicide and hanged herself from a tree in the village. So upset was the publican’s son of hearing of his girlfriend’s death he too hanged himself from the same tree. The Tarrant Keynston publican had, himself lost his wife at child birth and now losing his s...