Herbert Lawrence (1879-1948)
Herbert George Lawrence was the eldest son of George Willmott Lawrence, also a dulcimer player, and maker.
He was born in Haslingfield, a village 4 miles south west of Cambridge in 1879. When he was ten, the family moved to Thriplow Heath. He worked as a labourer, on farms and in the building trade. Herbert did not marry and lived in Thriplow with his parents and later his sister and her family for the rest of his life. He was close to his younger brother, Leonard (1885-1947) who also remained in Thriplow all his life. Herbert died just a few months after Leonard, in January 1948.
Herbert sometimes played dulcimer with Jim Pettitt, who had been a neighbour in Thriplow Heath and played concertina and percussion. Herbert also played the concertina, as evidenced by the only known portrait of him. Jim came from Shudy Camps and the two friends were related by marriage through Herbert’s brother William’s wife Jessie Mynott.
Herbert also often played with his uncle, Will Lawrence, another dulcimer player and maker. According to his sister Sarah Wills, Herbert played sitting down, and was the last of the Lawrence family to play the dulcimer, his father having died in 1930 and his uncle Will in 1940.
There are no known recordings of Herbert Lawrence, and no details of the dulcimer he played, though it is likely to have been made within the family.
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