George Wilmott Lawrence (1854-1930)
George Willmott Lawrence was born on 9th May 1854 in Haslingfield, a village about 4 miles south west of Cambridge. He was the third child of William and Sarah (née Wilmott) and his father worked on farms all his life, working his way up to become farm bailiff at Asplin’s Farm in Hardwick. The Lawrence family have been traced back in this area of Cambridgeshire to the early 1700s.
George followed his father into farming, staying in Haslingfield for a few years although his parents had by then moved to Hardwick Heath. His youngest brother, Will Lawrence also played and made dulcimers. According to his daughter, Mrs Sarah Wills, George used to play standing up.
He married in 1877 and his oldest son Herbert Lawrence, who took up the dulcimer too, was born the following year. By 1881 he and his young family had moved to Thriplow, where he lived for the rest of his life, working his way up to become gamekeeper for the owners of the Thriplow Manor estate until it was sold off in 1928.
George died on 5th January 1930.
There are no known recordings of George Wilmott Lawrence.
George Wilmott Lawrence’s dulcimer
This dulcimer was donated to the Museum of Cambridge by George’s granddaughter in 1963 and is said to have been made in 1886 (there is a rogue date of 1866 on the label in this photo). This is coincidentally the very same year in which another dulcimer was made in the same village, by Willis Barnard.
More photos and information about George Wilmott Lawrence’s dulcimer
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