The Lawwrence School, Sanawar, is established in India by Henry Lawrence, whose intent is to provide for the education of the orphans of British soldiers and other poor white children.

In 1845 he had outlined the creation of a boarding school in the Indian highlands for boys and girls. He stated his aim as being to create

    ...an Asylum from the debilitating effects of the tropical climate and the demoralizing influence of Barrack-life; wherein they may obtain the benefits of a bracing climate, a healthy moral atmosphere, and a plain, useful, and above all religious education, adapted to fit them for employment suited to their position in life.

The school at Sanawar is established as the first such asylum on April 15, 1847, when fourteen girls and boys arrive at Sanawar in the charge of Lawrence's sister-in-law Mrs George Lawrence and a superintendent Healey.

The school is co-educational from its beginning.

The site had been chosen by Lawrence, after discussions with William Hodson and others, considering that it was an "ideal location" which "afforded the necessary requisites: isolation, ample space, water, a good altitude, and all not too far from British troops".

The construction of the buildings is paid for by Lawrence and other British officers, with a large contribution from Gulab Singh, the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Hodson, who will later became famous for Hodson's Horse, supervises the construction of the school's first buildings and is still commemorated by the annual Hodson's Run, a competition between the school's houses.

In the early days some Anglo-Indian children will be admitted, but Lawrence insists that preference should be given to those of "pure European" parentage, as he considered they are more likely to suffer from the heat of the plains.