General Notes

Robert Lawrence of Lancashire, England; Born probably as early as 1150, and the ancestor of the earliest families of the name in England.  Attending his Sovereign, Richard, Coeur de Lion, to the war of the Crusades in the Holy Land, he so distuinguished  himself in the siege of Acre, that he was knighted, "Sir Robert of Ashton Hall", in 1191.
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According to one family record, the Lawrences of Ashton Hall are descended from a Robert Lawrence born about 1150., or about 1155/60, depending on the writer, in the vicinity of Lancaster, England.
One source indicates that his father also was named Robert and worked as a silversmith for the Lord of Lancaster Castle. Lancaster Castle was established about 1100 A.D. on the remains of three Roman forts and today is a prison.

Robert Lawrence joined the Third Crusades in 1187 led by Richard Couer de Lion. He traveled by ship first to Cyprus and then to what is now present day Palestine.
There he took part in the siege of Acre. One version indicates that he scaled the walls of Acre with four other men and opened the gates to the armies of the Crusades.
Another version indicates that he was the first to raise the flag of the Crusades on a Palestine hill during the siege of Acre.
For his deeds he was knighted by King Richard in 1191 and was given Ashton Hall.

Sir Robert Lawrence also is referred to Robert de Lancaster in some texts. This probably is more accurate as surnames did not come into common use until the late 1200s or early 1300s.

Ownership of Ashton Hall eventually passed by marriage to the Dukes of Hamilton.

There are no Doomsday Book of 1086 lists for Lancaster, nor fees lists, or fines lists that mention the name Sir Robert Lawrence. However, his existence is proven by the recording of his knighthood in the College of Arms and his mentioned in the French scribe's rendition of the Intinerarium, a day by day account of the Third Crusades.