| Description | Work provided by customer includes the following information:
Lawrence was born on 26 Feb 1895 at 16 Riverhead, Driffield, the second of 5 sons to John and Hannah Malkin. He was educated at the Driffield National School and was in Standard VII when he left at the age of 13. He worked as a gardener’s boy at Highfield, Driffield, before becoming a gardener at Kirby Hall, Ouseburn, near York, the home of Lord Knaresborough.
On 26 Sep 1914 Lawrence enlisted in the 9th West Yorks Regiment and was sent for training at Whitley Camp, Surrey. It was here he met Dorothy Bennett, from Cornwall, who he eventually married. Lawrence was posted to the Dardenelles in Jul 1915. He had a rough time, describing his men as ‘sitting ducks’ with only 72 surviving. Lawrence escaped uninjured and was sent to Alexandria in Egypt to recuperate. In 1916 he was transferred to the 11th Battalion Machine Gun Corps as a driver (possibly with horses) and was with them until he left the army on 17 Mar 1919. He was never wounded but saw service in France where he was ‘gassed’. His is commemorated on the Little Ouseburn WWI Roll of Honour, near where he used to work as a boy.
He returned home to 1 Eastgate South, and joined the police service. He was initially turned down by both the Hull City Police and the East Riding Constabulary due to physical considerations, but was eventually accepted by the North Yorkshire Police and was stationed at Redcar. Lawrence and Dorothy married on 30 Oct 1922, at St Mary’s Church, Callington, Cornwall, some 8 years after they had first met in Surrey. Their only daughter, Audrey, was born in 1924.
Dorothy died in 1945 and in 1949 Lawrence retired to Middleton St George where he died on 24 Mar 1960, aged 65 years, following a stroke. Both he and his wife are buried in the churchyard at Stainton.
|