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Alfred Stratton Lawrence

Alfred Stratton Lawrence was rector of the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill from 1921 to 1943, after serving parishes that included Hillsborough, and helped found the Chapel Hill School of Religion. Born in Essex, England, he was a World War I chaplain.

Source: UNC Libraries: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Papers, 1914-1944

Also found in catalogs as Alfred S. (Alfred Stratton) Lawrence.

1882–1958 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

1 work about Alfred Stratton Lawrence is indexed here, as is one work by Lawrence.

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 23 dated events in the chronology →

  1. St. Matthew's Episcopal Church builds its present rectory across St. Mary's Road St. Matthew's built a one-and-a-half-story frame rectory on the triangular lot across St. Mary's Road from the church in 1912 and 1913, for its new rector, Alfred S. Lawrence. The parish had owned the lot since 1869, and rectors have lived there since then. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church Rectory, 203 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough · Also mentions: St. Mary's RoadSearch the index · Journal of the Ninety-Seventh Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of North Carolina (1913), St. Matthew's parochial report · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register
  2. A Red Cross mass meeting at the Hillsborough court house enrolls new members On the eve of draft registration, J. C. Webb presided over a mass meeting at the court house where Edward Bond of Edenton, a soldier back from the Mexican border, and Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence spoke, and Frank Nash introduced Mrs. Palmer Jerman of Raleigh on the purpose of the Red Cross. Six young women then enrolled members. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Frank Nash, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Court House, Hillsborough · Also named: Edward Bond, Mrs. Palmer JermanSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 2
  3. Under rector Alfred Lawrence, the Chapel of the Cross asks Hobart Upjohn to design a new church The vestry, led by its new rector Alfred Lawrence, asked church architect Hobart B. Upjohn to design a larger building linked to the old chapel by a cloister, after a 1920 diocesan resolution called for enlarging the church to serve the university. Place: Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill · Also named: Hobart B. Upjohn, Alfred LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel of the Cross: Parish Archives
  4. Chapel Hill's American Legion post votes to adopt a ward in a veterans' hospital At a barbecue and Brunswick stew supper for ex-service men, Chapel Hill Post No. 6 of the American Legion heard State Adjutant Cale K. Burgess on the Legion's civic and hospital work and voted to adopt a ward in one of the government hospitals for disabled veterans, naming Henry A. Whitfield and the Rev. A. S. Lawrence to arrange it. Men from Hillsborough and the rural districts attended, and the post's executive committee took up making it a county-wide post; membership stood at 53. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Luther James Phipps, Henry A. Whitfield Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Cale K. BurgessSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), October 6, 1921, p. 1
  5. Alfred S. Lawrence preaches on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Chapel of the Cross The rector preached a sermon marking seventy-five years since the church's consecration in October 1848. Archibald Henderson cited it in his 1938 history of the parish. People: Archibald Henderson Place: Chapel of the Cross, East Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · Archibald Henderson, The Church of the Atonement and the Chapel of the Cross at Chapel Hill (1938), scan p. 33
  6. Chapel Hill High School graduates fifteen, with J. Y. Joyner as speaker Chapel Hill High School closed its year with commencement exercises from May 31 to June 2, 1924, graduating twelve girls and three boys. Former state superintendent J. Y. Joyner gave the address on Monday night, June 2, Alfred S. Lawrence preached the baccalaureate sermon at the Chapel of the Cross, and N. W. Walker of the university presented the diplomas. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, N. W. Walker, Fred W. Morrison, James Yadkin Joyner Place: Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel of the CrossSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), June 5, 1924, p. 1
  7. Chapel Hill observes National Defense Day with exercises at the post office About 100 people gathered at the post office at noon for Defense Day exercises arranged by Carl Durham, commander of the Chapel Hill American Legion post. The Boy Scouts' band played, Robert B. House of the state historical commission was the main speaker, Dean of Students Francis F. Bradshaw and Durham also spoke, E. R. Rankin presided and Rev. A. S. Lawrence led the devotions. House called the day the first intelligent application of the principle of universal service. People: R. B. House, Francis Foster Bradshaw, Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Carl T. Durham Place: Post office, Chapel Hill · Also named: E. R. RankinSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), September 18, 1924, p. 1
  8. Alfred Lawrence helps found the Chapel Hill School of Religion Lawrence took part in organizing the Chapel Hill School of Religion, a venture of the town's churches and the Y.M.C.A. to teach the Bible to University students without University credit. He was one of its six incorporators, five village ministers and Y.M.C.A. secretary H. F. Comer, when the state chartered it in the week of May 17, 1926, and its first teacher, Rev. Mims Thornburgh Workman of Little Rock, began classes about September 17, 1926. His papers hold material on it from 1925 and 1926. People: Harry F. Comer Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Mims Thornburgh Workman · Also mentions: Chapel Hill SchoolIn the index: School of Religion (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · UNC Libraries: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Papers, 1914-1944 · Also: Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1926, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 13, 1926, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, September 10, 1926, p. 3
  9. The new Chapel of the Cross church is consecrated The Upjohn building, from then on called the Church, was consecrated during Alfred Lawrence's rectorship. The parish timeline notes that male students in the campus ministry resisted including women students. Place: Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill · Also named: Alfred LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel of the Cross: Parish Archives · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 14, 1925, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 24, 1935, p. 4
  10. Alfred Lawrence publicly opposes fundamentalist attacks on teaching evolution The Chapel of the Cross rector took a public stand against fundamentalist efforts to bar the teaching of evolution in public schools, introducing a diocesan resolution against limits on freedom of thought, teaching and research. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel of the CrossSearch the index · The Chapel of the Cross: Parish Archives
  11. Daughters of the Confederacy give Crosses of Military Service to two Chapel Hill veterans At a special Armistice Day service marking the tenth anniversary of the armistice, the United Daughters of the Confederacy presented the Cross of Military Service to J. B. Oldham and Garland Kirkland, World War veterans who were sons of Confederate veterans. Members of the American Legion post attended, and the usual Memorial Hall exercises were dropped because the day fell on Sunday. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Chapel of the Cross, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. B. Oldham, Garland Kirkland · Also mentions: Memorial HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 16, 1928, p. 1
  12. A children's library opens in the Episcopal parish house, and its subscribers form a library association Subscribers to a new children's library voted to open it in a room of the Episcopal parish house, and it opened on June 5, 1929, lending books free on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. They formed a Children's Library Association of all subscribers with nine directors, and planned to move the library into the school building in the fall. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Frank Porter Graham Place: Episcopal parish house (Chapel of the Cross), Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 7, 1929, p. 1
Show all 23 dated events
  1. Chapel Hill's American Legion post wins three state trophies At the state American Legion convention in Raleigh in late August 1929, the Chapel Hill post won three trophies for its work in its membership class, and the post's chaplain, Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence, was elected state chaplain. The post was credited with school prizes, sponsoring the Boy Scouts and a junior baseball team, helping get the landing field started, and service officer George Lawrence's aid to veterans' widows and orphans. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, George H. Lawrence, Paul H. Robertson Place: Raleigh (Chapel Hill post) · Also named: George LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 30, 1929, p. 1
  2. Chapel Hill marks Armistice Day with a reading of the Orange County war dead At the joint University and American Legion ceremony in Gerrard Hall, Dean Addison Hibbard read the roll of the University's World War dead and post commander Paul Robertson the roll of Orange County's, and Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt urged his hearers to vote and serve as they had in 1917 and 1918. The day before, the Legion post showed 'The Soul of France' at the Carolina Theatre with an offering for disabled veterans at Oteen. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, John M. Booker, Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Paul H. Robertson, Addison Hibbard Place: Gerrard Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Paul Robertson · Also mentions: Carolina TheatreSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 15, 1929, p. 1
  3. Chapel Hill's men give Frank Graham a barbecue supper on his accession as president About 200 men of Chapel Hill gave Frank Graham, the University's new president, a barbecue supper at the Country Club on the evening of July 9, 1930. Mayor Zeb Council spoke for the town, Rev. A. S. Lawrence for the churches and Robert B. House for the village's alumni, and M. C. S. Noble closed with recollections of the presidents he had known. People: Frank Porter Graham, Alfred Stratton Lawrence, R. B. House, M. C. S. Noble, Zeb P. Council Place: Country Club, Chapel Hill · Also named: Frank GrahamSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 11, 1930, p. 8
  4. The Chapel Hill school board turns down parents who asked it to keep teachers it had dropped After about thirty citizens met at the school on June 10, 1932 and asked the board to retain for one more year the teachers it had not re-elected, a committee led by Rev. A. S. Lawrence put the request to the board in the week of June 20. The board held to its decision; the parents had argued that notice given at the end of May left the teachers no time to find other places. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, W. S. Roberson Place: Chapel Hill school, West Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 24, 1932, p. 1
  5. Rev. George W. Lay, clergyman and former rector of St. Mary's School, dies Rev. George W. Lay, an Episcopal clergyman and teacher who had retired to Chapel Hill in 1928, died early on August 12, 1932 in Duke Hospital, and his funeral was held next day in the Episcopal church in Chapel Hill. He had been rector of St. Mary's School in Raleigh from 1907, later rector at Beaufort, and was at work on a book on the Latin and Greek roots of English. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Episcopal church, Chapel Hill (funeral); died at Duke Hospital, Durham · Also named: George W. Lay · Also mentions: Duke Hospital, St. Mary's SchoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 19, 1932, p. 2
  6. George Tayloe Winston, president of the University from 1891 to 1896, dies George Tayloe Winston, president of the University from 1891 to 1896 and later of the University of Texas and North Carolina State College, died on the night of August 26, 1932 in Watts Hospital, Durham, in his eightieth year. He had spent his last four years at the Chapel Hill home of his son, P. H. Winston; Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence held private services and his ashes were taken to Asheville. People: George Tayloe Winston, Patrick Henry Winston, Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Home of P. H. Winston, Chapel Hill; died at Watts Hospital, Durham · Also mentions: Watts HospitalSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 2, 1932, p. 3
  7. G. K. G. Henry, the University's assistant registrar, dies George Kenneth Grant Henry, a Nova Scotia native who came to the University as a mathematics instructor, taught Latin from 1909 to 1922 and then served as assistant registrar, died of a heart attack at his home at nearly 64. He was a vestryman and long the treasurer of the Chapel of the Cross; Bishop Penick took part in the funeral, and he was buried in the Chapel Hill cemetery. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: G. K. G. Henry, Edwin A. Penick · Also mentions: Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill cemeterySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 28, 1941, p. 3
  8. American Legion lists the graves of World War veterans buried in Orange County Rev. A. S. Lawrence, chaplain of the Chapel Hill Legion post, published a list of World War veterans buried in the county, about 80 graves in 38 cemeteries from Chapel Hill and Hillsboro to Cedar Grove, Bethel, and Little River, with Black veterans listed separately. The Legion, which had marked the graves, planned a single memorial service at St. Matthew's churchyard in Hillsboro on May 25 instead of visiting each grave. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also mentions: St. Matthew's churchyardSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 23, 1941, p. 3
  9. The Chapel of the Cross celebrates its centennial with a pageant Episcopalians marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of their Chapel Hill parish in 1842 with a sermon on May 10 by Bishop William Mercer Green of Mississippi, grandson of the founding rector, and a pageant, "At the Crossroads on the Hill," on the parish house lawn the next evening. Written and directed by Urban T. Holmes, the pageant ran from the early chapel that gave the village its name to a vestry meeting of 1942 played by the vestry itself. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Chapel of the Cross parish house, Chapel Hill · Also named: Urban T. Holmes, William Mercer GreenSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 15, 1942, p. 1
  10. David Yates accepts the rectorship of the Chapel of the Cross The Rev. David Yates, for nine years rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Durham, accepted the rectorship of the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, succeeding the Rev. A. S. Lawrence, who had retired in October 1944. He was to begin on April 9; the assistant rector, the Rev. Emmet Gribbin Jr., had been in charge in the meantime. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill · Also named: David Yates, Emmet Gribbin Jr.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 22, 1945, p. 6
  11. The Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence, longtime rector of the Chapel of the Cross, dies The Rev. Alfred Stratton Lawrence, 76, died at his home in Chapel Hill after a long illness and was buried after services on March 29. Born in Essex, England, he had been rector of the Episcopal Chapel of the Cross and later its rector emeritus, and for many years examining chaplain and secretary of the Diocese of North Carolina. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 3, 1958, p. 8

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Alfred Stratton Lawrence, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Indexed works

Works about or by Alfred Stratton Lawrence. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By Alfred Stratton Lawrence

Alfred S. Lawrence papers, 1914-1944.

Lawrence, Alfred S. (Alfred Stratton), 1882-1958 · 1914

Papers of Alfred Stratton Lawrence, 1882 to 1958, spanning 1914 to 1944, about 250 items in half a linear foot, collection 4350 in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC. The papers concern Episcopal clergy in North Carolina, including material on the Chapel of the Cross, the Chapel Hill School of Religion, the Diocese of North Carolina, Joseph Blount Cheshire and Elwood Haines.

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