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Charles Lawrence. (1709-1760).
Born in Plymouth England Dec 14 1709. His father was also in the British military, in the naval Section. General Charles John Lawrence served in Flanders under Malbourough.
After being commissioned in 1727 he first touched North American soil in the West Indies in 1729, serving there until 1737. He was made lieutenant in 1741 and then captain in 1745. He participated in the battle of Fontenoy.
As a British soldier (career soldier) he accompanied his regiment to Nova Scotia in 1747. He arrived on North American soil in 1729.
Governorship
He was made lieutenant governor in 1754, being officially sworn in on the 21st Oct, holding this position until 1756. In 1756 he was made governor. He was governor until 1760.
To his new post he brought an over exaggerated sense of fear of the French. The French Acadians seem to have not wanted to participate in the British-French quarrels going on around them at the time. He considered the French colonists to be fifth columnists. He forced them to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. It was after this failure to take the oath ideas of deportation for the defense of the Crown was considered and later carried out.
As lieutenant governor it was he who was responsible for writing the 1755 Acadian deportation order, securing the approval and co-operation of Shirley the governor of Massachusetts. One of the major reasons for the deportation was because the Acadians were aiding and abetting the French indirectly by trading agricultural supplies with the French.
It was in his regime but not with his approval that Nova Scotia had its first elected assembly which met in 1758. This elected body is the oldest representative body in Canada.
In 1757 he was further promoted to the title of brigadier general and commanded the siege of Louisburg.
He died of pneumonia in 1760 after over-indulging in a local Halifax banquet.
Info taken form: http://www.bartleby.com/65/la/LawrencC.html
http://www.girouard.org/cgi-bin/page.pl?file=lawrence&n=9
http://www.cajunculture.com/People/lawrenceC.htm
Bibliography: Sources: Brasseaux, Founding of New Acadia (1987); Brasseaux, Scattered to the Wind (1991); Rushton, The Cajuns (1979).
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