Sir William Lawrence (1818 – 18 April 1897)[1] was an English builder and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1865 and 1885.

[4] At the 1885 general election he stood in Paddington South as an independent liberal, but was unsuccessful, winning only 7.2% of the votes.

He is buried in the eastern roundel of Kensal Green Cemetery in London, not far from the entrance.

The address at his funeral was given by Brooke Herford, minister of Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel where he, like his father, had worshipped.

His nephew Frederick Pethick-Lawrence was a pacifist and suffragist, and later an MP.