Major-General Stringer Lawrence (February 1698 – 10 January 1775) was a British army officer who served as the first Commander-in-Chief of Fort William from 1748 to 1754.

Dupleix's schemes for the French conquest of southern India were on the point of taking effect, and not long after his arrival at Fort St David, Lawrence was actively engaged.

In 1749 he was in command at the capture of Devicota, during which one of his subordinate officers was Robert Clive (1725–1774), the future Commander-in-Chief of British India, with whom a lifelong friendship began.

As senior officer Lawrence took over the command, but was careful to allow Clive every credit for his share in the subsequent operations, which included the relief of Trichinopoly and the surrender of the entire French besieging force.

His retirement years in England were spent as an honoured guest of his friend Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet (1717-1798) at Haldon House in the parish of Dunchideock in Devon, a fellow officer of the British East India Company who served as Governor of the Madras Presidency.

Palk erected lavish monuments in Lawrence's memory, namely the 26 metres (85 ft) high triangular 'Lawrence Tower' (at Haldon House), containing a life-size statue of Lawrence dressed as a Roman general and decorated with three large tablets inscribed with details of his career, and also a mural monument in Dunchideock Church.

[6] The East India Company erected a monument to Stringer[7] in white and coloured marble by the sculptor William Tyler (1728-1801), situated in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey.

On the left side below is a winged figure of Fame holding an oval shield inscribed: "For Discipline Established, Fortresses Protected, Settlements Extended, French and Indian Armies Defeated, and Peace Concluded in the Carnatic".

[8] Also on the pedestal is a panel containing a relief sculpted perspective of a city and an encampment, inscribed: "Tritchinopoly", which town Lawrence defended against the French from May 1753 to October 1754.

In the centre of the tower's ground floor stands a statue made of Coade stone similar to the one in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and on the walls are three large inscribed tablets recounting Lawrence's career.