Henry Lakin Lawrence died at sea on May 8th, 1911, aged 52 years while returning from Norway, where he had been inspecting mining properties.
He received his technical training during a four years’ course at the Academy of Mines, Freiberg, Saxony, and subsequently had an extremely varied professional experience in Mexico (one year), Queensland (2½ years), Melbourne (where he practiced as a consulting engineer for one year), New Zealand and Honduras, in which latter countries he managed mines for about a year in each case. He subsequently was appointed manager of the New Pierrefitte Mines in the Hautes Pyrénées, France, during which period he obtained the materials for a paper on the “Dressing of Zinc Blende Ores and Magnetite” at those mines, which he submitted to the Institution (Trans. ii, pp. 92-99).
After some experience in the Transvaal Mr. Lawrence was engaged in Brazil, where he investigated the diamond workings of Paraguaçu. After leaving Brazil he was occupied with prospecting work on the Gold Coast and in Ashanti. In 1906 and 1907 he took part in an expedition to the Okotsk Sea and in the country around Nikolaievsk, where he endured hardships that seriously affected his health, and undoubtedly contributed to cause his sudden death a few years subsequently.
Mr. Lawrence was elected a Member of the Institution in 1892.
Vol. 21, Trans IMM 1911-12, pp.726-7
