Photograph by J. Valentine (1880’s)

Lawrence entered Jesus College Oxford in October 1907 to study History. He was eligible for a closed award by virtue of his Welsh birthplace, and won a Meyricke Exhibition worth £50 a year. His family obtained special dispensation which enabled him to live at home, but a schoolfriend, E. F. Hall was also at Jesus, and Lawrence used his room as a base in central Oxford.

Lawrence took very little part in undergraduate life except in the summer of 1908, when he lived in College for one term. It was then that he made friends with Vyvyan Richards and A. T. P. Williams, later Bishop of Winchester. it was with Richards that Lawrence shared his interest in William Morris and fine printing.