Sir John Lawrence

John Lawrence was the British administrator who, after the annexation of 1849, helped run the Punjab as a member of the Board of Administration and then governed it alone as Chief Commissioner. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls him a cold, practical administrator who lacked his brother Henry's understanding of the Sikhs and their institutions, who ruled with severity, and whose changes appeared vexatious innovations to a Sikh people smarting under the shock of defeat.

Who he was. He was born at Richmond in Yorkshire on 4 March 1811 and educated at Haileybury. He joined the East India Company in 1830 and served as magistrate and collector at Delhi until 1846, when Governor-General Hardinge made him commissioner of the newly annexed Jalandhar Doab.

His part in the history of the Punjab

• 1849: after the annexation of 29 March, Lord Dalhousie set up the Board of Administration. Henry Lawrence presided and John took charge of land settlement. Henry thought the annexation unjust and wanted conciliation; John favoured a more rigorous policy. The Encyclopaedia says Dalhousie shaped the Board to offset Henry's influence.
• The Board ordered the surrender of arms across the province, and 119,796 arms, among them swords, matchlocks, a few cannon and rifles, were recovered. All military grants of Sikh times were abolished. Lawrence disbanded and dispersed the 92,000-strong Khalsa army and had its artillery dismantled and carted away to Calcutta.
• 1853: the Board was dissolved after its members' differences, Henry Lawrence was ousted, and John became Chief Commissioner with the Board's powers. The Encyclopaedia says he divided the province into seven districts, settled the north-west frontier, improved agriculture, reduced the land tax and introduced European education.
• 1857: Lord Roberts recalled in his memoirs that Lawrence exerted himself to the uttermost to send troops from the Punjab to Delhi, denuding his own province to a dangerous degree.
• 1864 to 1869: Viceroy and Governor-General of India. He was created Baron Lawrence of the Punjab in 1869 and died in 1879, on 26 June in the Encyclopaedia's account and 27 June in Wikipedia's.

What he is remembered for. The Encyclopaedia's verdict is that, although he lacked his brother's genius for winning people's hearts, the unfettered control he held over every department let him establish firmly the roots of British power in the Punjab.