In Memoriam: John Lawrence

By Mark Hanna

On Tuesday the 7th of June I heard the very sad news that John Lawrence had died. He left behind his son Simon, John’s wife Marion died more than 10 years ago.
John worked for the Diamond Trading Company for 29 years. He worked in London, Maidenhead and Belgium. He lived in Antwerp for many years during his time when he was based in Belsort and Lens Diamond Industries. When he retired he settled here, although he also spent time at his holiday home in Tuscany.
John was what I regard as the ultimate combination, and what there are far too few of in today’s world. A polite English gentleman and an extremely good engineer! He was the kind of person who never got flustered, was always understated and remained calm whatever situation he found himself in. Beneath the surface he was very determined and strived hard to achieve the goals he set himself. He loved art and painting, was delightfully eccentric and was well travelled.

I worked in close collaboration with John for almost 30 years at De Beers (DTC) and for some of this time he was my boss. He was rightly very proud of what he achieved in his career and of the things he was able to influence and change for the better along the way. We first met in 1980 when I joined the R & D department at Lens Diamond Industries (LDI). John was leading an experimental production department where sawn diamonds were being prepared (bruted) for manufacture in India and the Far East. Over the last 40 years John became a good friend and I, like so many others will miss him, and I would like to tell you a little bit about the man and what he did in his work.

The diamond industry in the late 70’s was very different to what we see today. There was little automation and most of the processing was done using traditional equipment, and around this time, De Beers recognised that there was a huge opportunity to apply modern technology to diamond polishing. So the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) set out to recruit a small group of people with an engineering background; John was part of this group. The big idea was that engineers would be good production managers because while diamond cutting and polishing had always been seen as a human skill passed down through the generations, integrating those skills with modern technology could deliver huge benefits”. The first step was to teach the recruits about the intricacies of the diamond business. At this time there were no fast-track programs for management development so John found himself in a small workshop in the Belgian Kempen area learning how to cut diamonds the traditional way. He told me that he spent six months learning the art of polishing a diamond. Regardless of the level of craftmanship he achieved this experience changed his outlook and influenced him throughout his career. This provided context and John realised that the unusual physical properties of diamonds meant that manufacturing a diamond had many difficulties and complexities.

John was one of the original team of the DTC R & D department that was initially based in cramped premises near the main London office but soon moved to the current site in Maidenhead. He worked closely with the scientists and engineers who were deeply involved in diamond physics and engineering. At that time diamond cutting and polishing took place in Belgium, Israel, South Africa and New York, with India handling mostly the lower quality goods. There was an interest in vertical integration using the latest technologies but this presented a real challenge for the R&D Group; there was simply no one who understood both the art of polishing a diamond, a skill passed down through generations of diamond cutters, and the science of new technology. John soon became that person, and he was to become integral, if not indispensable to their success. De Beers director Monty Charles was responsible for starting the LDI operation and for supporting the build-up of the R & D activities, John and he developed a great rapport, based not least, on a very healthy mutual respect. John worked with people like Garry Stewart, Peter Cooke, Martin Cooper and Eric Blondeel on the science and engineering side and with Alec Leibowitz and others from outside De Beers.

John participated in many technology projects during the 80s and 90s where he was involved either directly or in an advisory role. The list of projects is long but here are the most important; several bruting machines, Piermatic polishing machine, Omni and Make machine (which were early versions of rough and polished measuring technology), sawing automation, Rotang (which was a simple tang for polished naated diamond) as well as laser sawing.

In addition to John’s activity supporting R&D and technical projects he was charged with coordinating with the Indian diamond industry throughout its development in the late 80s and 90s. This meant that John frequently visited India and one of his observations was that the equipment being used didn't come with any operating instructions!

At one point, senior management in London became extremely concerned about the health of diamond industry workers in Israel and India. The industry was poorly regulated and there was a significant information and education problem. Bad practices were common and there were major health and safety concerns with the use of lasers without eye protection, cobalt in diamond polishing wheels, acids and other harmful chemicals. One of the worst issues was that the cast iron polishing wheels, that were being manufactured in the developing world, were often poorly cast and they had voids in the metal. This caused a series of fatal accidents when the wheels exploded at high speed. John’s department rewrote the rule book and created a safety standard by defining a minimum thickness and advising over-speed testing.

To help tackle some of these issues in the late 80’s and early 90’s the DTC organised two industry symposiums. The first in Mumbai and the second in Tel Aviv where these issues were discussed and highlighted. As part of this there was a series of training videos explaining the basic techniques of diamond manufacturing and good practise involved in setting up and maintaining the equipment. John played a key role here and he felt passionately about this work and I know he was very proud of this part of his career.

Towards the end of the 80s the ambitions of De Beers in terms of vertical integration waned and the various patents around diamond measurement and scanning techniques were released and this helped in the launching of the Sarine technology we know so well today.

A further part of John’s responsibilities was to run a small department that monitored the quality of the sawn and cleaved goods that were produced on a very large scale by LDI. Much of this work was quite innovative in the diamond industry.

When the company initiated a formal program to train engineers in diamond manufacturing, John became their mentor and many of these people still speak very highly of him. I was one of the people in the program and within the De Beers organisation more than 20 followed various versions of the program. Around this time De Beers and the governments of Botswana and Namibia set up joint ventures to manufacture diamonds in Africa. These were ambitious projects and again John played a leading role on the execution side. This was not an easy road but it was a start and today in Botswana and Namibia there are thousands of local people manufacturing diamonds and adding value to the local economies.
After John retired from De Beers he continued to offer his skills and expertise as an independent consultant to the industry. He was very well travelled and throughout his career he visited many remote and far-flung locations in his quest to promote excellence in the diamond industry,

John and Marion were really good fun and their end of year parties were not to be missed. John was a good man and when Marion became less mobile in later life due to the complications of major surgery John took care of her.

After Marion passed in 2011 John reduced his work in the industry and focused on painting, art and travel. He formed a strong and loving friendship with Simone Carron living close by in Antwerp. They met through local art classes and John and Simone shared many happy times together. John also kept himself busy through the Open University studying geology and finally fulfilling a lifelong ambition by completing a master’s degree in psychology

John was very proud of his three grandchildren, Alexandra, Charles and Robyn.

Someone reminded me this week that greatness is not measured in wealth but by the number of people whose lives have been positively impacted by their presence. John is a person who has influenced the lives of many for the good.

John, you will be missed.