Charles Lawrence — Surrey Professional Who Would Coach Australia's First Generation, 1858

The 1868 Aboriginal touring party was the first Australian cricket team to tour England, twelve years before the first 'official' Australian tour of 1878. Lawrence organised, coached and captained the side, which played 47 matches in England.

Charles Lawrence was born in Hoxton, Middlesex, in 1828. He played for both Surrey and Middlesex through the 1850s — county registration rules were lax — and was a right-arm fast roundarm bowler of consistent county quality. He was selected for Stephenson's 1861–62 Australian tour, performing creditably in the exhibition matches across New South Wales and Victoria. When the tour ended he accepted an offer from the Albert Cricket Club in Sydney and remained in Australia as a professional coach. His students included several of the New South Wales players who formed the first Australian touring party to England in 1868 — the Aboriginal eleven that toured under his captaincy. Lawrence's role in developing that tour, recruiting and coaching the Aboriginal cricketers, was the most remarkable chapter of his coaching career.