It owned the [1] Fairfield Estate in St James, Jamaica which produced variously coffee, sugar, molasses, rum and cattle.
In 1830,[2] Charles Lawrence part-inherited 199 slaves from the estate when his father died shortly before the abolition of slavery.
Charles Lawrence had Whig political sympathies at the time he was elected Mayor of Liverpool for 1823–4.
Once the Act of Parliament authorised construction, he took over as chairman from John Moss and saw the project through to 1845 when the company merged with the Grand Junction Railway.
Around 1839, the Lawrences moved to Carnatic Hall, Mossley Hill (the hall was destroyed by fire in 1891) where in 1847, they entertained Prime Minister Robert Peel during his visit to Liverpool to unveil Gibson's statue of William Huskisson MP in front of the new Custom House (Huskisson had died due to an accident on the opening day of the Liverpool & Manchester railway).