William A. Lawrence, Proprietor of the Papanui Hotel, corner of Harewood and North Roads, was born in 1862 at Ferrymeade, and was educated partly at Papanui and afterwards at Melville House. He was first engaged in business as clerk to Mr. P. Cunningham, at Timaru, and later on with Mr. Evans of that town. In 1882 he returned to Christchurch and joined the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, with which he remained for eleven years, after which he was connected with the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company. On leaving that company in 1897 he took over the license of the Papanui Hotel.