Lahore’s famous Lawrence Gardens : An historical sketch
(Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed)
The history of colonial Lahore has two illustrious names from the time of the British Raj , the Lawrence Brothers -Henry and John. Both served as Lt. Governors of the Punjab. While the former wanted to maintain the old order in the Punjab John Lawrence was a modernizer.
The Lawrence Gardens was John Lawrence’s contribution. In 1862, a top expert from Kew Gardens in London was brought to Lahore for laying out a vast park spread over 112 acres. Now known as the Bagh-e-Jinnah, but for us natives the original English name is still current.
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Trees and plants were brought from all over the world and planted here. Even today you find most exotic trees and plants and it reminds one of the Kew Gardens in London.
The Lahore Zoo was once part of the Gardens, but now a wall has been erected around it and it is separated from the main Gardens.
Since I grew up on Temple Road, from early childhood I and my friends would go to the gardens regularly. One could climb the two hills and play Police and Robbers. There was an Open Air Theatre on the top of a third hill and plays and music concerts were a common feature of the Lahore cultural scene of the 1950s and 1960s.
Because of the greenery it was always cooler to be in the gardens than elsewhere in Lahore during the summer. During summers glow-worms or flies were to be found all over the Lawrence Gardens but they are now all but gone. The reason is cutting down of plants and shrubs which they lived on and the increasing pollution and environmental degradation.
The famous Gymkhana Cricket Ground was the venue of famous cricket matches before the Partition; and after the creation of Pakistan visiting teams played there; when Pakistan attained test match playing status between 1954-55 and 1959, test matches were played there. I saw all the test matches at the Gymkhana Club Ground.
The Lawrence Gardens were also home to three clubs. The Lahore Gymkhana was housed in the Lawrence and Montgomery Halls, while the Cosmopolitan Club was located near the Lawrence Road entrance to the park.
The third club was the Ladies Club. After the creation of Pakistan and the urge to Islamize everything in Pakistan a process began through which the very English character of the gardens began to be modified by several attempts to lay down Mughal-type structures – the result of such unimaginative intrusions being the cutting down of trees and the influx of bricks and cement.
Still, the Lawrence Gardens retains a very distinct character and personality and one hopes it is respected and its cool calm glory survives.
