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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== 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 and Sir James Lawrence were Lord Mayors of London and also members of parliament. His nephew was Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, the suffragette 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 for the Liberal Unionist Party, becoming a member of parliament for Truro from 1895 to 1906. He was also a prominent 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.〔ch 3, Rowe, Mortimer, B.A., D.D. ''The History of Essex Hall''. London: Lindsey Press, 1959.〕 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. In 1898 Edwin changed his name to Durning-Lawrence, in honour of his wife's maternal grandfather, and was created 1st Baronet Durning-Lawrence, of King's Ride, Ascot, Berkshire in the same year.〔 In the absence of a male heir, on his death, his baronetcy became extinct.〔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〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edwin Durning-Lawrence」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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