Biography
He was born in 1850 and graduated from Harvard College, as was the tradition in his family, and earned his D.D. from Harvard Divinity School in 1897. The Right Reverend Lawrence was later honored with an LL.D. from Harvard in 1910 presented by his cousin and then Harvard President, A. Lawrence Lowell.
Bishop Lawrence is best known for founding the church pension system. He was also known as "the banker Bishop" because his fund raising drives "invariably developed with Midas-like magic." Financier, J. P. Morgan, Jr. served as Treasurer of the Church Pension Fund from its founding in 1918.
While Bishop Emeritus, William Lawrence was involved in an effort to proposition a new Book of Common Prayer to the Church of England. Also, while in retirement, the Bishop realized the need for a chapel at Massachusetts General Hospital and in the late 1930s, as the White Building was under construction, convinced of the importance of faith and spirit in healing, he sent over fifteen hundred hand-written letters to friends of the Hospital asking for their support "in this bit of pioneer hospital work." Over eight hundred people of all faiths responded.
In 1926, Lawrence published his autobiography, Memories of a Happy Life.
He died in 1941.
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