George Hill Mathewson Lawrence

George Hill Mathewson Lawrence (June 19, 1910 – June 10, 1978) was an American botanist, writer and professor of botany who helped establish the 'Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium', the Hunt Botanical Library and the Huntia journal. He was also an avid book collector, including books on the history of Rhode Island, historic books and botanical art.

Biography George Hill Mathewson Lawrence was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island on June 19, 1910. His parents were Dana Lawrence, and Anna (Mathewson) Lawrence (or Anna M. Mathewson). ) in Warwick in 1928. He then attended Rhode Island State College,

In 1934, he married Miriam Boothby of Westbrook, Maine.

After receiving the doctorate, Lawrence remained as Bailey's assistant in the Bailey Hortorium (within the university) until World War II started in 1943.

When Bailey retired in 1951, It is still a standard text for students of systematic botany.

During the mid-1950s. Lawrence travelled to England. While he was away, he kept a close correspondence with Dr. Bailey and the Hortorium staff. These letters are among the Lawrence Papers stored in 'Special Collections' at Cornell. He also he wrote "Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954); An Appreciation" in 'Baileya' Vol.3 Issue 1, page 26–40 in 1954.

In 1954, he was given a Guggenheim Fellowship Award, in the field of Plant Sciences.

In 1954, Lawrence also managed the transition of the Bailey Hortorium from its previous home at Sage Place to its new facilities in Mann Library. It provided the Hortorium with a centrally located space on the university campus. Which is now classed as a synonym of Lapeirousia fabricii subsp. fabricii.

In 1955, Lawrence was also the author of another standard textbook on botany: 'Introduction to Plant Taxonomy', Macmillan, 179 pages.

In 1960, Lawrence left the Bailey Hortorium, (after 21 years of being a student and teacher) to assume the position of director of the newly established Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library at the then Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania,

He was editor of 'Adanson; the bicentennial of Michel Adanson's Families de plantes', published by Hunt Botanical Library, between 1963 and 1964, produced in 2 volumes.

In 1964, Lawrence established Huntia, the institute's scholarly journal of botanical history. The journal was published irregularly in one or more numbers per volume of approximately 200 pages by Hunt Institute. Volumes 1 to 7, was issued in 14 volumes, large octavo (folded paper) they were paperback apart from Volume 2 which was clothbound. Then in 'Huntia' Vol.1, pages 162–165 in 1964, Lawrence wrote an article, The botanical significance of letters and manuscripts.

Lawrence had become 'director emeritus' of the Bailey Hortorium before he retired in 1970,

Lawrence was also a student of local history and an avid bibliophile and collector of rare books.

Lawrence was a member of the URI (University of Rhode Island) Century Club and a trustee of the URI Foundation and Chairman of the Foundation's Campus Beautification Committee. In 1977, he had compiled a pamphlet detailing statistics and accomplishments of the class of 1934 for its 45th reunion.

He was a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.