John Lawrence was born December 10, 1925 in a coal board house in Harrow Street, South Elmsall, West Yorkshire . The son of a miner, the grandson of a miner and the great grandson of a miner.  He lived his whole life in South Elmsall.  He married the love of his life Joyce Margaret Wright in 1946 even though they did not have any money to start a home of their own.    They were happily married for 35 years until the death of Joyce in 1987.     They had four children, Janet (1950), Marie ( 1955), Sally ( 1961) and John (1963).   

John Lawrence was not a good student and told stories of getting into trouble at school even though he wanted to learn.  He left school at 13 and went to work at the pit leading pit ponies.  He left South Elmsall for a short period of time when he was 14 to live with his sister Jessy in Luddenden Foot and worked in Murgatroyds mill.  He returned home when his mother was seriously ill and resumed work at the pit.  He was a coal face worker from age 15 to age 63.  He would tell stories of working in the mine in a space smaller than under our dinner table, he suffered bronchitis regularly but was never able to find another job that paid enough to keep his family. 

He liked to read the newspaper and Popular Mechanics magazine, he loved to take his children on nature walks at the weekend and was mostly a stay at home dad. He rarely went to the pub for a drink and if he did it was to go see his dad, George William Lawrence who was completely the opposite with a strong liking for drinking.

He cared a lot about his sisters Dorothy, Lucy and Jessy and visited with them regularly.  He loved gardening and kept a very neat and tidy garden.  He never threw anything away that could be useful to him later and perhaps was a pioneer in the 3 Rs, re-use, repurpose and re-cycle, he made a lot of benches from wood he found at the side of the road on his walk home from shopping.   He never had a car and walked everywhere.  He enjoyed trips to the seaside in his later years and was an avid follower of the George Bradley Swing Band.  He loved to dance and could manage a few dances well into his late 80s. He visited Canada for the first time when he was 62 , he learnt to ski and skied White Face Mountain, the olympic mountain at the end of his trip.

 He died aged 93 in a care home in Featherstone after a short illness and a diagnosis of cancer.