[2] One of his brothers was Henry Hamilton Laurence, a graduate of New College, Oxford, and a barrister-at-law at Georgetown, Guyana.
[3][4] In 1872 Laurence went up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to read Classics, graduating with first class honours in 1876.
[6] An admirer of the influential Jewish politician Saul Solomon and an advocate of the Cape Qualified Franchise, Laurence believed in equality of all men, regardless of race.
[1] By his will he endowed funds at Cambridge University for the benefit of the Cambridge University Library, to establish the Laurence Professorship of Ancient Philosophy and the Laurence Professorship of Classical Archaeology and to provide funds generally for the purposes of classical studies.
[12] He also endowed his college, Corpus Christi, with funds to support the study of classics and prizes in his name continue to be awarded.