Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock, (12 November 1860 – 14 June 1932) was a British colonial administrator who served variously as Administrator of Matabeleland, Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal, and Governor of Madras. The fourth and youngest son of the 2nd Baron Wenlock, he attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, before joining the military. Serving in the Mahdist War, he reached the rank of captain before resigning his commission to pursue other interests. Lawley was then private secretary to his uncle, the 1st Duke of Westminster, and subsequently to the 4th Earl Grey, who he followed to Rhodesia.
Representing the British South Africa Company, Lawley was Administrator of Matabeleland from 1896 to 1901, during the conclusion of the Second Matabele War. He was then Governor of Western Australia for a brief period, from 1901 to 1902, before returning to Africa to serve as Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal (under Viscount Milner, the governor). The Transvaal had been incorporated into the empire following the Second Boer War, and Lawley bore much of the responsibility for administrating the colony, remaining lieutenant-governor until 1905. The following year, he was made Governor of Madras, serving until 1911 and overseeing the reform of the Madras Legislative Council. Prominent in the Red Cross during the First World War, Lawley succeeded the youngest of his older brothers as Baron Wenlock in 1931, but died a year later. His only son had died in a hunting accident in 1909, and the title consequently became extinct upon his death.
Early life and education Lawley was born in 1860 to Beilby Lawley, 2nd Baron Wenlock, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth (née Grosvenor), a daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Westminster and a granddaughter of the 1st Duke of Sutherland. He was the seventh child to the couple and their fourth and youngest son. He was educated at Eton, where he became President of the Eton Society and Editor of the Eton Chronicle.Eton College Archives.
In October 1879, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. However, Lawley did not complete his studies at Cambridge. Instead, he went in 1880 to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 10th Hussars in 1882. He served in India and in fought in the Sudan Mahdist War seeing action at Suakin (1884). In 1885 he was promoted to captain and served in the United Kingdom until 1892.The Memoirs of the Tenth Royal Hussars, 1891. Upon retiring from the army, he became involved in politics, serving as the private secretary to his uncle, the Duke of Westminster from 1892 to 1896, after which he was appointed secretary to Earl Grey, who went to administer Rhodesia after the Jameson Raid.The Bulawayo Chronicle, November 1897.
Administrator of Matabeleland When Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, was sent to Salisbury to replace Sir Leander Starr Jameson, Lawley was in due course appointed the acting administrator of Matabeleland representing the British South Africa Company. In November 1896, he was appointed Deputy Administrator for Matabeleland. He served as Administrator of Matabeleland from 1897 to 1901.Anglo-African Who's Who, 1907. In 1898, Lawley led a mission to the court of Lewanika, the king of Barotseland.
Lawley later wrote a detailed account and a diary of his journey to Barotseland and his experiences. An agreement was signed at the Victoria Falls on 21 June 1898 between King Lewanika and Captain Arthur Lawley with Robert Coryndon, the resident in Barotseland as witness. The ivory seal with its gold handle used by Lawley to endorse the Treaty is in The National Trust Collection at Tyntesfield.The National Trust, Tyntesfield, U.K.
The Second Matabele War, which began after the failure of the Jameson Raid in January 1896, concluded during Lawley's residence in Bulawayo with a victory for British settlers and a Peace Agreement on 13 October 1896, reached by Cecil Rhodes meeting with the Matabele Chiefs in the Matopos Hills. On the departure of Earl Grey in July 1897, Lawley succeeded Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, as the Administrator of Matabeleland and served from 1897 to 24 January 1901.Anglo-African Who's Who 1907.Sir Arthur Lawley's photo albums, Lord Wraxall. As Deputy-administrator, Lawley participated in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria. As Cecil Rhodes was unwell, Captain Arthur Lawley gave the speech opening the Railway from Mafeking to Bulawayo on 4 November 1897.Bulawayo Chronicle, 11 November 1897. Captain Lawley sent half the force which relieved Mafeking under the command of Colonel Plumer in May 1900.Daily Telegraph, 18 May 1900. He was in close contact with Colonel Robert Baden Powell, who later served under him as Chief of Police in the Transvaal.
Governor of Western Australia Lawley was knighted and appointed Governor of Western Australia in February 1901, and arrived in Albany aboard the ship Ophir, along with the Duke and Duchess of York (about to commence a royal tour). Lawley's official term as Governor of Western Australia ran from 1 May 1901 to 14 August 1902. One of his first duties was to represent Western Australia at the opening of the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne on 9 May 1901.Parliamentary Education Office, Parliament House, Canberra, Australia.
Despite only being governor for a little over 15 months, the inconclusive results of the 1901 state election meant that Lawley was met with five different governments during his time in office. He received the resignation of George Throssell on 21 May 1901, and commissioned George Leake as the new premier six days later. Leake's first government fell on 21 November 1901, but his replacement, Alf Morgans, was unable to form a new ministry, and resigned on 23 December 1901. Lawley then re-appointed Leake as premier. Leake almost immediately requested that Lawley dissolve parliament and order a new election, but Lawley refused, citing the precedent established by Lord Canterbury (the Governor of Victoria), in 1872, when he refused a dissolution to Charles Duffy. Despite this, Leake's government endured until his premature death on 24 June 1902. The final premier of Lawley's governorship, Walter James, was appointed on 1 July 1902.
In December 1901, Lawley toured the south-western parts of the province along with the Governor General Lord Hopetoun, a friend from Eton College. His tenure also witnessed instability in the Perth City Council. Lady Lawley devoted herself to numerous charities in particular the children's hospice at Cottesloe, known as Lady Lawley Cottage.Lorraine Hayes, Lady Lawley Cottage, Western Australia Red Cross. The suburb of Mount Lawley in Perth is named after Lawley. Lawley laid the foundation stones of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Parliament of Western Australia.
Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal On the recommendation of Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, Lawley was appointed as Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal in July 1902. The Transvaal Colony had been established on the area which was previously the Boer republic of the same name, and Lawley was its first lieutenant-governor. He arrived in Pretoria at the end of August and was sworn in as lieutenant governor of the Transvaal on 29 September 1902, serving as such until December 1905.The Transvaal Leader. Tuesday 5 December 1905.
South Africa in 1902 was emerging from the bitter conflict of the Second Boer War and under the leadership of Lord Milner, the Lieutenant Governor of the Transvaal had the arduous task of post war reconstruction. The visit of Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, greatly facilitated this and generous financial provision was made for rebuilding the devastated farms and settlements.Photo of Joseph and Mary Chamberlain at Sunnyside Pretoria in Chapter 4 of "Sir Arthur Lawley, Eloquent Knight Errant". Lady Lawley Cottage (Western Australian Red Cross; 2008).The Brunt of War and where it fell. Emily Hobhouse. Methuen London, 1902.The Times, 8 January 1903, page 3, column A. However given that Britain had just conquered the Transvaal with its rich gold fields, diamond and platinum mines, this was the very least that could be expected.Gold Miners and the Imperial War. ANC. South Africa. The administration brought in new cattle to restock the farms, tackled disease among livestock, and re-opened the mines controversially using imported Chinese labour in the Rand Goldfields, an idea backed by Lord Milner.Milner, the Appostle of Empire. John Marlowe, Hamish Hamilton. London 1976. Chapter 7. Joseph Chamberlain went with Lawley on a tour of the Transvaal and endeavoured to establish cordial relations with the defeated Boers.Chamberlains Speeches. 27 December 1902; edited by C. W. Boyd, London, 1914. On 25 June 1905, the Cullinan Diamond was discovered at the Premier Mine, near Pretoria. The diamond, which was cut to create the four Stars of Africa, was presented by Louis Botha, the First Prime Minister of South Africa, to King Edward VII in 1907.Encyclopædia Britannica.
Lawley's administration also saw the legislation introduced, which led to the creation of the Kruger National Park.The Star, Weekly Edition, Johannesburg, Saturday, 19 December 1903. and the University of the Witwatersrand.Colonial Office Despatches CO510/6. 5 September 1903. National Archives, Kew, London, UK. At one of the schools established at that time by Bishop William M. Carter and the Mirfield Fathers, a young Desmond Tutu received his education.Algy Lawley. Latimer Trend and Co. Plymouth, 1933. Lawley's administration undertook the task of demarcating and allotting separate reserves in the Transvaal for indigenous Africans. In the end, Lawley set aside only about 3% of the Transvaal for Africans.
In 1903, due to petitions from Boer farmers, the government of Transvaal permitted them access to Kgatla reserves in the Bechuanaland protectorate to recover their stolen cattle on the condition they reciprocate by offering the Kgatla access to their own settlements. The Kgatla responded by requesting Lawley to merge Kgatla reserves in Bechuanaland and the Crown colony into a single settlement.
The Kgatla request was framed to enable their chief Lentshwe gain complete sovereignty over all the lands occupied by the Kgatla from the Boers during the Second Boer War. The request was turned down by Lawley, who, however, permitted Lentshwe to appoint his brother Ramono as his deputy over Saulspoort.
During his tenure, Lawley had reservations about Lord Milner's policy of importing cheap Chinese labour into Transvaal to work in the gold mines.Milner Papers. Bodleian Library Oxford. Dep. 323. Folios 133/137, 1903.Colonial Office Despatches CO510/6. 3559, 9246 and Chinese Labour Regulations. National Archives, Kew, U.K. Nonetheless, he pointed out the extent of success that had attended their work.Milner, Apostle of Empire by John Marlowe and Hamish Hamilton. London (1976), p. 164. The town of Lawley in Transvaal is named after Arthur Lawley. Mohandas Gandhi founded his Tolstoy model farm near the town of Lawley. Lawley encountered Mohandas Gandhi in the Transvaal and Gandhi wished him well when he was appointed Governor of the Madras Presidency in India.Mahatma Gandhi Media and Research Service. Chronology 1905.
Governor of Madras