Henry Lawrence (President of the Council)

Lawrence, born in 1600, was the eldest son of Sir John Lawrence, (died 1604), of St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, by his marriage, on 7 March 1599, with Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Ralph Waller of Clerkenwell, Middlesex, fourth son of Robert Waller of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.

[9] Greatly to Cromwell's annoyance, in 1649 Lawrence expressed strong disapproval of the trial and execution of King Charles I.

In the Barebones Parliament of 1653 Lawrence sat for Hertfordshire, and after its dissolution was placed on Cromwell's new Council of State, his salary being £1,000 a year.

[12] In the satirical Narrative of the Late Parliament (1658), Lawrence is said to have been made president to win over, or at least keep quiet, "the baptised people, himself being under that ordinance".

[13] John Milton, however, in his second Defensio Populi Anglicani (1653–1654), bears eloquent testimony to Lawrence's ability and learning.

In 1654 Lawrence strove to assist Lord Craven in recovering his English estates, which had been confiscated in 1650–1651, and he had some correspondence with Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, on the subject.

[19] After the restoration of the monarchy Lawrence withdrew to Thele, otherwise Goldingtons, a manor in the parish of Stanstead St Margarets, Hertfordshire, which he inherited on the death of his son Edward in 1657.

[20][a] On 21 October 1628 Lawrence married, Amy, daughter of Sir Edward Peyton, of Iselham, Cambridgeshire.