21 July 2017

A moving theatrical performance and a community exhibition commemorating the life of Lawrence Rowntree, who died at the Battle of Passchendaele, will take place later this month at York Castle Museum. Lawrence, the grandson of Joseph Rowntree, died in the battle which started 100 years ago on July 31 1917.

The museum has worked with the Rowntree Society and young actors to commemorate the anniversary by telling the tragic story of Lawrence, through a theatre performance, exerts from Lawrence’s personal journal and a short film.

The exhibition and performances are part of the national commemoration of the Battle of Passchendaele which began on July 31 1917 and in which there were 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties. In the last month of the battle, in November 1917, from Lawrence’s brigade alone three officers were killed and two wounded and five other ranks killed, plus 55 wounded.

Bridget Morris, Executive Director of the Rowntree Society, said:

“In my work for the Rowntree Society I am privileged continually to be able to hold a kaleidoscope up and turn it towards a new or undiscovered story. Researching and revealing the poignant tale of the brief life of Lawrence Rowntree has brought a lot of new material to light, especially with regard to the family’s Scarborough connections.”

Lucy Knock, Learning Manager at York Castle Museum, said:

“As part of York Castle Museum’s new chocolate experience, Chocolate: York’s Sweet Past, we have been looking closely at the history of the Rowntree family. For the anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele, we also wanted to commemorate the life of Lawrence Rowntree, who died in the battle and whose family had such a big impact on the war effort.

“Young actors Rebecca Beattie and Charlotte Wood have worked with professional actor, Chris Cade, to create a beautifully poignant performance of the life of Lawrence Rowntree and the Rowntree Society’s exhibition gives a fascinating and saddening insight into his time at war, taken directly from his own journals.”

Performances will take place at York Castle Museum from Thursday 27th July to Wednesday 2nd August at the following times; 11.00, 12.00, 13.30, 14.30, 15.30.

The Lawrence Rowntree exhibition will be open in the Community Rooms until the end of 2017.

The exhibition has been curated by The Rowntree Society, with support from Spencer Brown, who is studying for an MA in Public History at the University of York, and Lotte Inch, an artist and designer who runs a gallery in Bootham. It looks at the tragic life of Lawrence Rowntree with excerpts from his personal journal, supported by a short film with a haunting atmospheric soundtrack by the acclaimed contemporary electronic composer, Sam Shepherd, aka ‘Floating Points’.

The community exhibition is part of the major First World War Exhibition at the museum, 1914: When the World Changed Forever.

 

Lawrence Rowntree Biography

Lawrence Edmund Rowntree, grandson of Joseph Rowntree, was born in York on 4 March, 1895. He moved to Scalby, a village near Scarborough, as a young boy and attended Bootham School in York from 1907-1912.
After school he spent a year studying at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, which had links with Bootham and the Quaker community in the UK.

Lawrence entered King’s College, Cambridge as a medical student in October 1913. In the summer of 1914, the outbreak of war would change Lawrence’s world dramatically.

Lawrence chose not to return to his medical studies but joined the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) in September 1914. The FAU eventually became a nation-wide organisation, but it was founded by alumni from Bootham School. It allowed young Quakers to contribute to the war effort without being directly involved in armed conflict.

After initial training in Buckinghamshire, Lawrence was part of the first group to be sent to France in October 1914. He kept a journal during his time in the FAU, which he entitled ‘A Nightmare in Three Acts’.

In March 1916, the Military Service Act was passed, which imposed conscription on all single men between the ages of 18 and 41. Lawrence did not go down the route of Conscientious Objection, as many of his fellow Quakers did.
Instead, Lawrence joined ‘C’ Company of what became known as the Tank Corps, and in August he arrived at the Somme with his crew. Their tank was called the Crème de Menthe.

Lawrence later joined the Royal Field Artillery as a lieutenant and, in late 1917, he was serving with 26th Army Brigade in the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) in Belgium.

He died in this battle on November 25, 1917, at the age of 22. He is buried at the New Military Cemetery in Vlamertinghe. His name occurs on the war memorial in Scalby, Scarborough.

 

Further Information on the Lawrence Rowntree Exhibition

The exhibition follows Lawrence’s dramatic, and tragic, life story. His journal powerfully illustrates the mixed emotions caused by war. Lawrence was repulsed by the squalor and bloodshed, and utterly exhausted by several near-death experiences. ‘I wanted to die in some peaceful manner,’ he wrote. ‘Not because I was sick of life, but because the one thing I ached for more than anything else in the world was a little rest.’

But the sporty man-of-action was also thrilled by the dangers of war: ‘The excitement of it, even the fear is enticing; the glorious feeling when you overcome difficulties you thought were insuperable, and the jolly companionship of everyone which you get in the face of a common danger, and never so truly anywhere else.’

The exhibition includes several photographs from his time at Bootham School and his year studying at Haverford College in the USA.

It also highlights the Scarborough heritage of the Rowntree family. Lawrence was born in York but grew up in Scalby, a small village near Scarborough. His forebears were drapers and grocers, much as the ‘Rowntrees of York’ also were in the early days.

Lawrence borrowed Joseph Rowntree’s Daimler for the war, and used it while serving with the FAU. He wrote that his grandfather’s car ‘pulled me out of some nasty places.’

Please note that the 100th anniversary of Lawrence’s death is on 25th November 2017.