Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet
British surgeon, politician, horticulturalist (1831-1913)
Sir James John Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet, (30 December 1831 – 22 December 1913) was an English surgeon, horticulturalist, and art collector. He later became a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for 17 years, retiring to become treasurer of St Bartholomew's Hospital where he founded the Lawrence Scholarship and contributed to the King Edward's Hospital Fund.
During his time as MP he became president of the Royal Horticultural Society serving 28 years until death, overseeing a growth in interest in membership and horticulture in general across the British Empire. He is the inspiration for a hybrid Aril Iris, Iris Sir Trevor Lawrence and a genus of orchids, Trevoria. The society also founded a gold medal in his honour.
Childhood and early adulthood
Lawrence was born on 30 December 1831, the son of Louisa Senior and Sir William Lawrence. His mother was the daughter of a successful Mayfair haberdasher who had bought a country estate, Broughton House, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Winchester College and St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he took the diploma of MRCS in 1853. He then worked for nearly ten years for the Indian Medical Service. Having inherited his mother's particular love for orchids, he reinforced this interest while in India.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet” is british surgeon, politician, horticulturalist (1831-1913). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Trevor, Lawrence and Baronet, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “british surgeon, politician, horticulturalist (1831-1913)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7529330. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1831, 1913 and 1853.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet primary sources, Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet archive and Trevor research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.