Harold S. Lawrence ..........1895 - 1971 Born in London, England in 1895. One of three sons of Thomas Joseph Lawrence of Essex. Married to Clarice. Known by colleagues as 'HL'. Lived in several London suburbs and retired to Sussex coast. Had one son, David. Occupation: Chief draughtsman and engineer in Water Treatment business. Also Inspecting engineer and R&D engineer Military service: Served in Royal Flying Corp in France in WWI as engineer engaged in repairing damaged military aircraft. Career highlights: (1) With Permutit Co. London. - Patent holder of first production Automatic Water Hardness Tester - about 1944. Developed at home on a small Myford lathe and constructed mainly from plastic, worked on the principle of soft water's ability to create a lather (and hard water inability to) and lather being able to divert it's flow because of it size compared to a latherless stream of water. The diverted stream was channeled to a container on a lever which when full tripped a mercury switch. This devise enabled water softeners, used mainly to provide boiler feed water - which normally require periodic regenerations using salt - to be run continuously without attendance. (2) With Permutit Co. London. Developed the mechanical application and saw into production and use a device to provide Emergency Drinking Water for shot down pilots during WWII. The device provided drinking water from sea water and was carried by R.A.F pilots and crew flying missions over Europe. Harold Lawrence tested the devise in the Clacton Lifeboat off the Essex coast to simulate emergency conditions with frozen hands. (3) With Permutit Co. London. Developed an automatic valve system to carry out the automatic regeneration of a water softener Interests: R.C. Model aircraft , model trains, photography. Built a chalet on the sea wall at Jaywick Sands in 1935.  e-mail (son David Lawrence)

Harold Lawrence, wife Clarice and son David