Lives in Cricket No 52 - Schooled in Cricket (2nd edition)

48 armed violence, however justifiable the cause, is a process of evil’. Lawrence – like Soper and many others – especially from the Methodist and other non-conformist Christian persuasions – maintained these tenets as life-long beliefs long after that terrible war had ended. For those who could only see a military solution for dealing with evil (and perhaps this author would have been one of them), Johnny’s daughter Dinah believes that Johnny would have always sought a more creative solution. This book is mainly for cricket lovers – and is not a political treatise. Readers will have varying views (or uncertainties) on the practicality of these views but it is important – in understanding Lawrence’s personality – to realise that they came from a heart that was neither stony nor in any way cowardly but came out of a strong devotion not only to his religious and political views but to a joyful and optimistic view of human potential – which is also expressed in his cricket coaching. Johnny was always keen to help his fellows – and it was to do this in the hard times that the war imposed on all domestic life rather than a notion of the ‘war effort’ that caused him to help in countless errands during this time. Johnny Lawrence, though in the end he never got to travel abroad, had a very worldly view of both life and of cricket. Saying no to war: a devout and principled man becomes a conscientious objector