He soon saw action in the First Anglo-Burmese War, and at the age of 18 Lawrence commanded a battery forming part of the Chittagong column which General Joseph Morrison led over the jungle-covered hills of Arakan.

[6] During his furlough in England, he resided with his family in Bristol, where he would first meet his future wife Honoria Marshall, until the opportunity arose in the autumn of 1828 to assist in the trigonometrical survey in Ireland.

[7] In 1831 he was transferred to the horse artillery in Cawnpore and the following year he passed examinations in Hindustani and Persian with the aim of earning a civil service posting.

He was tasked with mapping out and marking the boundaries of villages and fields in certain large districts, classifying them in accordance with the quality of soil and extent of holdings and to investigate and record the rights of claimants.

"Lawrence went on to successfully accomplish this guarantee, and earned the nickname "Gunpowder" from James Thomason for his "explosive force which shattered all obstacles".

In October 1838, in the run up to the First Anglo-Afghan War, Lawrence departed Allahabad to join Alexander Burnes's Horse Artillery, part of an 'Army of the Indus.

[14] When the army was ordered to stand fast, he instead became assistant to Sir George Russell Clerk, adding to his political experience in the management of the district of Ferozepore.

[13] At Ferozepore, Lawrence was collector, magistrate, civil and military engineer, universal provider and paymaster to troops that passed through the district.

Lawrence, spent much of the period acquainting himself with knowledge of the history and culture of the Sikh Empire, and penned a romance of the Punjab to aid those who cared to learn more about the region.

[16] When news of disaster came from Kabul in November 1841 he was at first tasked with pushing up supports for the relief of Sir Robert Sale and the garrison of Jalalabad.

Despite his short time in Khytul, Lawrence introduced a number of reforms including reduced taxes, the abolition of forced labour, a prompt system of justice and punishing bribery and corruption.

[17] Lawrence arrived in Kathmandu in November 1843, leaving his wife behind as European women were not allowed to enter the Kingdom at that present time.

In an article titled the Military Defence of our Indian Empire, he insisted on the need for the Government to be ready for war at all times, a view which was challenged by his editor.

It was whilst in Kathmandu that Lawrence and his wife first proposed the idea of homes in the cooler hills for the children of serving British officers.

Lawrence's articles in the Calcutta Review had caught the attention of Henry Hardinge, the new Governor-General of India, who was impressed by his knowledge of the region.

[24] In his diaries, Lawrence would later write of his intentions in his role:[25] "The basis of our arrangements, however, was: first, the reduction of the army to the lowest number required to defend the frontier and preserve internal peace, and to pay that army punctually; second, to strike off the most obnoxious taxes and, as far as possible, equalise and moderate the assessment of the country and insure what was collected reaching the public treasury; thirdly to have a very simple code of laws, founded on the Sikh customs, reduced to writing and administered by the most respectable men from their own ranks.

"During this time, he assisted in the sale of Kashmir to Gulab Singh, the Raja of Jammu as war indemnity, a move which caused considerable unrest in Lahore.

A key condition of the Treaty was that a Resident British officer, with an efficient establishment of assistants, was to be appointed by the Governor-General to remain at Lahore, with "full authority to direct and control all matters in every Department of the State.

Maulvi Sayed Rajab Ali of Jagraon (Ludhiana Dist) a close confidant of Sir Henry Lawrence played an important role in these negotiations".

The murder of two of his assistants, Patrick Vans Agnew and W. A. Anderson in Multan, and the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Sikh War hastened his return to India.

Part of the reason for this was Lawrence's insistence on compensating the Sikh nobility and aristocracy who had suffered ruin following defeat in the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

[32] The decision deeply hurt Henry who felt he had proved his self-taught civil administrative abilities over the course of the previous twenty years.

An added concern was growing discontent amongst the Sepoys of the Bengal Army, a large proportion of whom were drawn from Oudh, and thus able to command support in the province.

Lawrence earned praise for the prompt and decisive handling of an insurrection of an irregular native regiment near Lucknow, and was in turn awarded full military and civil authority by the Governor-General, Lord Canning.

[36] On the morning of 30 June, despite being weak and exhausted with illness, he led a march towards Nawabgunj to confront some mutinous regiments approaching Lucknow.

Around six or seven miles from Lucknow he encountered 15,000 soldiers with thirty guns and soon after the artillery of the Oude irregular force deserted his command and joined the mutineers.

[32] When Lawrence was critically injured and aware he was dying, he gave final orders to his nominated successor at Lucknow, Major John Banks, who immediately recorded them in writing.