{{Short description|British politician}} {{Use British English|date=May 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Durning-lawrence.jpg | image_size = | name = Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Bt | constituency_MP = [[Truro (UK Parliament constituency)|Truro]] | party = [[Liberal Unionist Party|Liberal Unionist]] | predecessor = [[John Charles Williams]] | successor = [[George Hay Morgan]] | term_start = 1895 | term_end = 1906 | majority = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1837|02|02}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1914|4|21|1837|02|02}} | death_place = | resting_place = | othername = | occupation = Politician, author | years_active = | spouse = Edith Jane Smith | domesticpartner = | children = | website = }}
'''Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, 1st Baronet''' (2 February 1837 – 21 April 1914) was a British lawyer and Member of Parliament.
He is best known for his advocacy of the [[Baconian theory]] of Shakespeare authorship, which asserts that [[Francis Bacon]] was the author of Shakespeare's plays. He published a number of books on the subject and promoted public debates with the academic community. At his death he donated the large "Edwin Durning-Lawrence archive" to [[London University]].
==Life==
[[File:The grave of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Kensal Green Cemetery.jpg|thumb|The grave of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Kensal Green Cemetery]] He was born Edwin Lawrence, the seventh son and last child of William Lawrence and Jane Clarke. His father, who built up his fortune in construction, held political posts in London. His brothers Sir [[William Lawrence (London MP)|William Lawrence]] and [[Sir James Lawrence, 1st Baronet|Sir James Lawrence]] were [[Lord Mayor of London|Lord Mayors of London]] and also members of parliament. His nephew was [[Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence|Frederick Pethick-Lawrence]], the suffragette{{refn|group=Footnote|Although suffragette is a feminine term, it was also used to describe male members of the [[Women's Social and Political Union|WSPU]].}} and pacifist MP.
Edwin studied law at London University and was admitted to [[Middle Temple]] in 1867 as a [[barrister]]. Later in his career he became a [[Justice of the Peace]] (as his father had been) in Berkshire. In 1895 he was elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] for the [[Liberal Unionist Party]], becoming a member of parliament for [[Truro (UK Parliament constituency)|Truro]] from 1895 to 1906.
He was also a prominent [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]]. He and his brother James between them donated £5000 – equal to half of the actual building costs – to the fund for the construction of [[Essex Street Chapel]], the headquarters of [[British Unitarianism]].<ref>ch 3, Rowe, Mortimer, B.A., D.D. ''The History of Essex Hall''. London: Lindsey Press, 1959.</ref>
He married Edith Jane Smith, daughter of [[John Benjamin Smith]], in 1874. Their only son, Edwin, was born in 1878, but died two days later. On 2 February 1898 Edwin [[Name change#Historical usage|changed his name]] by Royal Licence to Durning-Lawrence, in honour of his wife's maternal grandfather,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26937 |date=11 February 1898 |page=871}}</ref> and was created 1st Baronet Durning-Lawrence, of King's Ride, [[Ascot, Berkshire|Ascot]] in the [[County of Berkshire]] and of [[Carlton House Terrace]] in the [[County of London]] on 10 March the same year.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26946 |date=11 March 1898 |page=1504}}</ref><ref name="pin"/> In the absence of a male heir, on his death, his baronetcy became extinct.<ref name = "pin">L. G. Pine, ''The New Extinct Peerage 1884–1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms'', London: Heraldry Today, 1972, p. 217 {{ISBN|0806305215}}</ref>
He is buried in [[Kensal Green Cemetery]] south of the main east-west path not far from the main east entrance.
==Writings== Durning-Lawrence was a prolific author. He wrote ''The Progress of a Century; or, The Age of Iron and Steam'' (1886), ''The Pope and the Bible'' (1888) and ''A Short History of Lighting from the Earliest Times'' (1895).
Lawrence became most famous as an advocate of Baconian theory, to which he was converted after reading [[Ignatius L. Donnelly]]'s ''The Great Cryptogram''. He wrote a number of books on the topic, the most notable of which was ''Bacon is Shake-Speare'' (1910). He also wrote ''The Shakespeare Myth'' (1912), ''"Macbeth" Proves Bacon is Shakespeare'' (1913), and ''Key to Milton's Epitaph on Shakespeare'' (1914).<ref name = "att">{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/library/5.3.294|author=K. E. Attar|title=Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence: A Baconian and his Books|journal=The Library|year=2004|volume=5|issue=3|pages=294–315|url=http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/1766/1/EDL%20A%20Baconian.pdf}}</ref>
Following Donnelly, Durning-Lawrence believed that the key to proving Bacon's authorship was the discovery of cyphers within the plays which were hidden there by Bacon. His writings were also notable for the virulence with which he heaped abuse on [[William Shakespeare]] of Stratford:
<blockquote>England is now declining any longer to dishonour and defame the greatest Genius of all time by continuing to identify him with the mean, drunken, ignorant, and absolutely unlettered, rustic of Stratford who never in his life wrote so much as his own name and in all probability was totally unable to read one single line of print.<ref>Durning-Lawrence, E., ''Bacon is Shakespeare'', p. 82</ref></blockquote>
Durning-Lawrence's vehemence and assertiveness in promoting his views was widely remarked upon. He sent copies of his book to public libraries in Britain and to schools, prompting expressions of concern from Shakespeare scholars who believed unwary readers would be misled.<ref name = "att"/>
Durning-Lawrence's most famous argument in ''Bacon is Shake-Speare'' was his suggestion that the word [[Honorificabilitudinitatibus]], used in the play ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]'', is an [[anagram]] for ''hi ludi, F. Baconis nati, tuiti orbi'', [[Latin]] for "these plays, F. Bacon's offspring, are preserved for the world".<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Baconiantheory.html Baconian theory]. encyclopedia.com</ref> He derived the argument from an earlier book by Isaac Hull Platt.<ref>K. K. Ruthven, Faking Literature, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p.102</ref> [[Samuel Schoenbaum]] later argued that the anagram overlooks the fact that Bacon would have written the genitive of his name as ''Baconi'' (from ''Baconus''), never ''Baconis'' (which assumes his name was ''Baco'').<ref>Samuel Schoenbaum, ''Shakespeare's Lives,'' Oxford University Press, 2nd ed.1991 p.421</ref> [[John Sladek]] also showed that the word could also be anagrammatised as ''I, B. Ionsonii, uurit [''writ''] a lift'd batch'', thus "proving" that Shakespeare's works were written by [[Ben Jonson]].<ref>Deborah J. Leslie and Benjamin Griffin (5 March 2003) [http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/dcrm/wg2LeslieGriffin.pdf Transcription of early letter forms in rare materials cataloging] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520164316/http://rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/dcrm/wg2LeslieGriffin.pdf |date=20 May 2011 }}. Prepared for the DCRM Conference, 10–13 March 2003</ref> Durning-Lawrence also claimed that the [[Droeshout engraving]] of Shakespeare contained visual codes pointing to the secret authorship. He wrote, "there is no question – there can be no possible question – that in fact it is a cunningly drawn cryptographic picture, shewing two left arms and a mask... Especially note that the ear is a mask ear and stands out curiously; note also how distinct the line shewing the edge of the mask appears."<ref>Durning-Lawrence also claims that other engravings by Droeshout "may be similarly correctly characterised as cunningly composed, in order to reveal the true facts of the authorship of such works, unto those who were capable of grasping the hidden meaning of his engravings." Edwin Durning-Lawrence, ''Bacon Is Shake-Speare'', John McBride Co., New York, 1910, pp. 23, 79–80.</ref>
Bacon, Durning-Lawrence believed, also wrote ''[[Don Quixote]]'', in English; [[Cervantes]] was merely the Spanish translator of Bacon's version.<ref name = "att"/>
==University of London Archive== [[File:D-LL MS294 55.jpg|thumb|Page from "Some reflections on the life of William Shakespeare" purportedly written in 1805 by James Cowell]] Durning-Lawrence's archive was donated to the University of London library in 1929, and established there in 1931. It has been described as "a very important collection of about 7,000 volumes largely of seventeenth-century literature containing one of the best collections in the world on Sir Francis Bacon and valuable collections on Shakespeare and Defoe."<ref>Raymond Irwin and Ronald Staveley (eds), ''The Libraries of London'', 2nd ed, London, 1964, p. 146.</ref> It is still part of the University of London library, [[Senate House Library]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/historic-collections/printed-special-collections/durninglawrence/ |title=Durning-Lawrence Library |publisher=Senate House Library |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022180728/http://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/historic-collections/printed-special-collections/durninglawrence/ |archivedate=22 October 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>
He also left an endowment to the university. In the 1920s the artist [[Henry Tonks]], who felt the need for a stronger presence of [[History of Art]] within the university, was able to convert the endowment into a chair in that discipline at [[University College, London|University College]], despite the fact that Durning-Lawrence himself had no especial interest in the subject (though he had donated thirteen paintings to the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] in 1901). The first holder of the Durning-Lawrence chair was [[Tancred Borenius]].<ref>[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/art-history/about_us University College, History of Art department] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121001242/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/art-history/about_us |date=21 November 2010 }}. ucl.ac.uk</ref>
===Wilmot controversy=== In 1932, the year after the library was opened, the Shakespeare scholar [[Allardyce Nicoll]] published an article on a manuscript it contained written by James Corton Cowell, entitled "Some reflections on the life of William Shakespeare". The manuscript was a lecture delivered to the Ipswich Philosophic Society in 1805. It stated that an 18th-century clergyman, [[James Wilmot]], had identified Bacon as the hidden author of Shakespeare's works. Wilmot's study of local history in the Stratford area convinced him that Shakespeare could not have authored the works attributed to him. He came to this conclusion in 1781, more than 80 years before the Baconian argument was first published by [[Delia Bacon]] and [[William Henry Smith (1825–1891)|W.H. Smith]].<ref>Nichol, A, "The First Baconian", ''Times Literary Supplement'', 25 February 1932, p. 128. Reply by William Jaggard, 3 March, p. 155; response from Nicoll, 10 March, p. 17.</ref> Wilmot destroyed all evidence of his theory, confiding his findings only to Cowell.<ref>Alfred Harbage, Alfred. ''Conceptions of Shakespeare'', Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 111</ref><ref>LoMonico, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wjOCZVPnL94C&pg=PA28 ''The Shakespeare Book of Lists: The Ultimate Guide to the Bard''], Career Press, 2001, p. 28 {{ISBN|1564145247}}</ref><ref>Shapiro, James. "Forgery on Forgery," ''[[The Times Literary Supplement|TLS]]'' (26 March 2010), pp. 14–15.</ref>
The authenticity of Cowell's "Reflections" was accepted by Shakespearean scholars for many years, but was challenged in 2002–2003 by John Rollett, Daniel Wright and Alan H. Nelson. Rollett could find no historical traces of Cowell, the Ipswich Philosophic Society, or its supposed president, Arthur Cobbold.<ref>Niederkorn, William S. [http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/04/books/absolute-will "Absolute Will"], ''The Brooklyn Rail'' (April 2010); Baca, Nathan. "Wilmot Did Not; The 'First' Authorship Story Called Possible Baconian Hoax", [http://www.shakespearefellowship.org/Newsletter/NewsletterMain.htm ''Shakespeare Matters'' 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411084633/http://shakespearefellowship.org/Newsletter/NewsletterMain.htm |date=11 April 2011 }} (Summer 2003); Brenda James, W. D. Rubinstein, ''The Truth Will Out: Unmasking the Real Shakespeare'', Pearson Education, 2005, p. 325.</ref> In 2010, [[James S. Shapiro]] declared the document a forgery based on facts stated in the text about Shakespeare that were not discovered or publicised until decades after the purported date of composition.<ref>Shapiro, James. ''Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?'', Faber, 2010, pp. 11–14 {{ISBN|1416541632}}.</ref> It is not known whether the forgery was introduced to Durning-Lawrence's archive during his life or after his death; however he never refers to it in his own writings.
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=Footnote}}
{{Reflist|35em}}
==References== * Rowe, Mortimer, B.A., D.D. ''The History of Essex Hall''. London: Lindsey Press, 1959. Full text reproduced here [https://web.archive.org/web/20120116153833/http://www.unitarian.org.uk/support/doc-EssexHall0.shtml]. * Williams, Raymond. ''Essex Church in Kensington 1887–1987: History of a Unitarian Cause''. Full text reproduced here [https://web.archive.org/web/20110517092455/http://www.kensington-unitarians.org.uk/history.html].
==External links== {{Portal|Cornwall}} * [http://www.ull.ac.uk/specialcollections/dll.shtml The Durning-Lawrence library at Senate House Library, University of London] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706221059/http://www.ull.ac.uk/specialcollections/dll.shtml |date=6 July 2011 }} * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-edwin-lawrence | Edwin Durning-Lawrence }} * [http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/dispatcher.aspx?action=search&database=ChoiceArchive&search=priref=110007200 Edwin Durning-Lawrence archives] * {{Gutenberg author |id=3172| name=Edwin Durning-Lawrence}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edwin Durning-Lawrence}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef | before = [[John Charles Williams]] }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for [[Truro (UK Parliament constituency)|Truro]] | years = [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895]] – [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]] }} {{s-aft | after = [[George Hay Morgan]] }} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{s-new|Creation}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Baronet]]<br />'''(of King's Ride)''' | years=1898–1914}} {{s-non|reason=Extinct}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durning-Lawrence, Edward}} [[Category:1837 births]] [[Category:1914 deaths]] [[Category:Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship]] [[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:English Unitarians]] [[Category:Lawrence family (England)|Edwin]] [[Category:Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies]] [[Category:Members of the Metropolitan Board of Works]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Truro]] [[Category:People educated at University College School]] [[Category:Shakespeare authorship theorists]] [[Category:UK MPs 1895–1900]] [[Category:UK MPs 1900–1906]]