Educated at Haileybury, in 1823 he joined the Bengal Artillery at the Calcutta suburb of Dum Dum.
In the first Burmese War, Lawrence and his battery formed part of the Chittagong column which General Morrison led over the jungle-covered hills of Arakan, until fever decimated them, and Lawrence found himself back in Britain, wasted by a disease he never completely threw off.
He returned to India in 1829, and was appointed revenue surveyor at Orakhpur. He spent some years in camp, during which he married his cousin Honoria Marshall, and surveyed every village in four districts, each larger than Yorkshire. He was then recalled to a brigade by the outbreak of the first Afghan War towards the close of 1838.
Henry Lawrence established at Sanawur the Lawrence Asylum for the education of the children of European soldiers serving in India.
In 1857 the Seige of Lucknow took place in Oudh province, which had recently been annexed. The British community, including the garrison of some 1700 men, took refuge in the British residency where a siege began on June 30. Commander Henry Lawrence was one of the first casualties. When Lawrence was critically injured during the siege, he is supposed to have said to those around him: "Put on my tomb only this - Here lies Henry Lawrence who tried to do his duty."
Henry Lawrence Island in the Indian Ocean, at 12N 93E, is named for him.