Esther Ella Lawrence (1862 – July 23, 1944) was a New York born educationist and school principal.

She left in 1883 and briefly ran her own kindergarten before she was head hunted by Alice Woods in 1884 to lead the preparatory department of Chiswick High School.

[2] Lawrence was to take charge of the kindergarten which would be called the Froebel Educational Institute in the following year.

Under her management the courses extended to be three years in length at what became a residential college at Grove House, Roehampton.

[1] Lawrence retired in 1931,[3] and was an enthusiastic follower of the Tasmanian educationalist F. Matthias Alexander.