Fred Lawrence

Lawrence entered the World Snooker Championship on six occasions in the first half of the twentieth century. At his first attempt in 1927, he lost at the quarter-final stage 7–8 to Tom Dennis, and in 1928, he defeated Alec Mann 12–11 and Tom Newman 12–7 to reach the final, where he lost 13–16 to Joe Davis.

In the 1929 event, Lawrence was victorious over Alec Mann once more, this time by 13 frames to 12, to set up another meeting with Davis in the semi-final; he lost this match 10–13. The 1930 tournament followed a similar path - again, Lawrence beat Mann, this year by two frames at 13–11, but again, he lost to Davis in the semi-final, the 2–13 scoreline marking the heaviest defeat of Lawrence's career to that point.

He next appeared at the World Championship in 1946, losing in the first round 9–22 to Kingsley Kennerley, and the 1947 tournament, which proved to be Lawrence's final as a professional, ended with a 10–25 loss to John Barrie in his opening match.