John Bennet Lawes

File:John Bennet Lawes.jpg

Lawes as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, July 1882

Sir John Bennet Lawes, 1st Baronet, FRS (28 December 1814 – 31 August 1900) was an English entrepreneur and agricultural scientist.<ref name="infoplease">Template:Cite web</ref> He founded an experimental farm at his home at Rothamsted Manor that eventually became Rothamsted Research, where he developed a superphosphate that would mark the beginnings of the chemical fertilizer industry.Template:Citation needed

Life

John Bennet Lawes was born at Rothamsted, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, on 28 December 1814,<ref name=history/> the only son of John Bennet Lawes,<ref name="ancestry">Template:Cite web</ref> owner of the Rothamsted estate and lord of the manor of Rothamsted.Template:Citation needed His father died when he was eight years old, so he was brought up mostly by his mother Marianne.<ref name=history/> He was educated at Eton College and Brasenose College, Oxford, although he didn't graduate.Template:Citation needed In 1822 , his father died and Lawes inherited Rothamsted.

Before leaving Oxford in 1832, Lawes had begun to interest himself in growing various medicinal plants on the Estates and started to experiment on the effects of various manures on plants growing in pots. A year or two later the experiments were extended to crops in the fieldTemplate:Sfn in order to free farmers from relying on animals to produce fertilizer.Template:Citation needed In 1839, an ostrich belonging to him escaped Rothamsted and caused a bit of property damage, although the only person it hurt was the first one to try and capture it.<ref name="ostrich">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1842, he patented a manure formed by treating phosphates with sulphuric acid, and thus initiated the artificial manure industry.<ref name=infoplease/> In the succeeding year he enlisted the services of Joseph Henry Gilbert, with whom he experimented for more than half a century in raising crops and feeding animals,<ref name=infoplease/> activities which have rendered Rothamsted famous to scientific agriculturists.<ref name=school/> In 1854, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, which in 1867 bestowed a Royal Medal on Lawes and Gilbert jointly,Template:Sfn and in 1882 he was awarded the title of baronet.<ref name="story">Template:Cite web</ref> He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1883.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lawes died on 31 August 1900 and Rothamsted Manor and Estates passed to his son Charles. He was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas Church, Harpenden with his wife Caroline (née Fountaine), who predeceased him (1822- 29 November 1895). They had two children, Caroline Lawes & Charles Bennet Lawes (3 October 1843 - 6 October 1911) Charles married Maria Amelia Rose Fountaine (related?) on 8 April 1869 at St George's Church, Hanover Square, London. He became Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-Wittewronge 2nd Bt on the death of his father in 1900 (the name Witteronge was his grandmother's maiden name)

File:Sir John Bennet Lawes.jpg

Headstone of Sir John Bennet Lawes (1814-1900) and his wife Caroline (née Fountaine) Lawes (1822-1895)

Legacy

In 1889, Lawes took measures to ensure the continued existence of the Rothamsted experimental farm by setting aside money solely for that purpose and so established The Lawes Agricultural Trust.Template:Sfn Rothamsted Experimental Station is the oldest agricultural research facility in the world.<ref name="history">Template:Cite web</ref>

Sir John Lawes School in Harpenden, Herts is named after him.<ref name="school">Template:Cite web</ref>

The locality of Lawes, Queensland, in Australia is named after him. The main feature of that locality is the University of Queensland Gatton Campus which specialises in agriculture.<ref name=qpn>Template:Cite QPN</ref>

References

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• Antonio Saltini, Storia delle scienze agrarie, volume III, L'età della macchina a vapore e dei concimi industriali, Edagricole, Bologna 1989, 67–97

Further reading

• Dyke, G.V. John Bennet Lawes: the record of his genius. Taunton, Research Studies Pr.,1991, 482p.
• Dyke, G.V. John Lawes of Rothamsted: pioneer of science, farming and industry. Harpenden, Hoos Press, 1993, 234p.

External links

• LAWES, John Bennett Sir – DNB entry
• Archive material held by Rothamsted Library
• Correspondence of John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbert 1846 to 1900
• Royal Society citation
• History of Rothamsted Research Template:Webarchive
• Lawes Agricultural Trust Template:Webarchive
• Timeline of the life of Sir John Bennet Lawes