Perceval Maitland Laurence

Sir Perceval Maitland Laurence (20 April 1854 – 28 February 1930) was an English classical scholar, judge in South Africa and a benefactor of the University of Cambridge.

Perceval Maitland Laurence was born on 20 April 1854 in Woking the eldest son of Perceval Laurence, a clergyman and Isabella Sarah Moorsom.

In 1872 Laurence went up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge to read Classics, graduating with first class honours in 1876. Like his father before him, he was President of the Cambridge Union Society, holding office in the Easter Term of 1874.

On graduating his studies turned to the law. As a fellow of Corpus Christi, he was awarded the Yorke Prize in 1878 for his essay, written jointly with Courtney Stanhope Kenny, on The Law and Custom of Primogeniture, the Master of Laws degree in 1879, the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for Legal Studies and in 1885 the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Laurence was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn on 18 November 1878 but the effects of tuberculosis curtailed his English practice of the law and took him instead to the Cape Colony for the beneficial effect of the drier climate. He practised initially in Kimberley before being appointed second puisne judge of the High Court of Griqualand in 1882 and subsequently becoming Judge President in 1888. Moving to Cape Town in 1905, he served as Chairman of the War Losses Compensation Commission and the Transvaal Delimitation Commissions, for which he was knighted in 1906.

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