Dr Ian Bernard Lawrence (1955)

Ian Bernard Lawrence (1955)
1933-2024

Ian Lawrence, who died at the age of 90 in July 2024, was of the generation who went up to university after completing National Service. He therefore arrived at Queens’ in the mid-1950s with more experience of life than the typical school-leaver.

Born in Raynes Park in 1933, he stayed in London during the War, and recalled the sight of Spitfires and other planes overhead as he celebrated his 7th birthday on Battle of Britain Day, 15 September 1940. He went on to attend Raynes Park County Grammar School, also attending the Trinity College of Music Junior Department on Saturdays. These were happy days, and when not introducing the music of Edmund Rubbra to the school Gramophone Society, he would rush to the Oval to watch his beloved Surrey dominate the County Championship.

After two years’ National Service with the RAF spent at the Worth Matravers radio station, his place at Queens’ was delayed by another year (and the demands of the Latin entrance paper!), time gainfully spent working at the Merton & Morden Central Library. He finally arrived at Queens’ in the autumn of 1955, where he took Part I in Music and Part II in Geography. He threw himself into College and University music, becoming Vice-President of the St Margaret Society. He conducted the College choir, and in giving a solo to one Margaret Jones from Homerton College, he met his future wife.

On graduating he became a teacher, first at Sevenoaks School, teaching Music, English and Geography, and then four years later moving to Wallingford Grammar School as Director of Music. He then made the move into higher education, taking up a position at Maria Grey College near Twickenham (which later became the West London Institute of Higher Education), starting as a Lecturer and rising to be the Head of Education. He worked there for 21 years until taking early retirement in 1987.

In the meantime, he gained his PhD from Leeds University in 1975, and his thesis was published as a book: “Composers and the Nature of Music Education”. This is just one of over 30 entries in the British Library Catalogue which range from music to music education to education to local history. Interest in the latter was sparked by the move from London to the Dorset village of Fontmell Magna, the ancestral village he had discovered during his National Service in Dorset, where he Chaired the Parish Council and founded the Village Archive Society.

A second retirement brought him back to Cambridge, attracted by the University Library, the musical life of the city, and a growing number of grandchildren. In 2008 he and his wife Margaret celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Old Hall, and he continued to enjoy visiting Queens’, especially for annual garden parties, attending his last one shortly before his 90th birthday in 2023.

Ian Bernard Lawrence was born on 15 September 1933 in Raynes Park and died on 1 July 2024 in Cambridge. He is survived by his wife Margaret and by their three sons Stewart, Andrew and Christopher, and their five grandchildren.

Christopher Lawrence (1984)