Election of Master and Wardens 2025-2026
MASTER CARPENTER – LAWRENCE MALLINSON
Lawrence is the founder and owner of James White Drinks Ltd. Started in 1989 as an apple juice manufacturer based in Suffolk, James White is now the UK’s leading vegetable juice manufacturer with Big Tom spicy tomato juice, the Beet It range of beetroot juice and sports nutrition products and Zingers (ginger, turmeric shots). In 2002, James White Drinks was granted a Royal Warrant by HM the Queen and in 2025 a Royal Warrant by HM the King.
Having graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1978, Lawrence qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Peat Marwick (now KPMG). A brief encounter with the City at Robert Flemings was followed by a four-year stint as Chief Financial Officer of Computacenter during a period of spectacular growth. In 1987, he left to become one of the founding directors of New Covent Garden Soup Company, the pioneer of the fresh soup market in the UK.
In 2008, Lawrence co-founded HeartBeet Ltd, a patent owning company, with the medical research teams that discovered that the nitrate in beetroot juice boosts nitric oxide levels in the blood system. This discovery explains why many of world’s sporting elite now regularly take concentrated beetroot shots. In 2014, Lawrence founded RenewalsDesk Ltd, a patents renewal business, which he sold in 2020. He is Chairman of the Wadham Lodge Sports Ground Trust, a largely football-based sports centre in Walthamstow, originally founded by his grandfather.
Lawrence now lives in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and is married to Doe (currently Chair of Britten Pears Arts) and has three children – Barnaby (who now runs James White), Mathilda a broadcaster (Media Storm and Middle East Eye) and Phoebe a musician (Samfire).
The Wardens for this year are Mr James Preston, Senior Warden; Vice Admiral Paul Bennett CB OBE RN, Middle Warden and Mr Jim Greaves, Junior Warden. The Clerk is Brigadier Tim Gregson MBE.
