Lawrence Earl

1915-2005

Lawrence Earl (journalist, novelist, and photographer) was born 29 April 1915. Earl attended Saint John High School where founded a school newspaper, The Red and Gray, before graduating in 1932. His professional career as a journalist began at the Montreal Standard.  In 1946, his photo essay called “Mending Dikes in the Netherlands” was published by The National Geographic. In 1948, his photo of Queen Juliana of Holland made the cover of Time magazine, and, together, he and his wife interviewed the first King of Italy. Earl was also editor of the Star Weekly, but it was his job with the British magazine Illustrated that took him to London, where he lived for the next 50 years. Earl’s first book was called Yangtse Incident (1950).  In 1953, he won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour for his novel The Battle of Baltinglass.  Earl followed with five books: Crocodile Fever (1954), The Frozen Jungle (1955), She Loved a Wicked City (1962), The Riddle of a Haunted River (1962), and Risk (1969). During their summers, Earl and his wife left London and returned to a family home in Grand Bay near Saint John, where they enjoyed salmon fishing. In 1999, his wife died at the age of 84, and two years later she was honoured by Earl with the creation of The Jane Armstrong Earl Fund. That same year, Earl received an honorary doctorate from the University of New Brunswick. Lawrence Earl passed away at the Saint John Regional Hospital on 5 April 2005.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Saint John