Henry John Lawson, also known as Harry Lawson, (23 February 1852–12 July 1925) was a British bicycle designer, racing cyclist, motor industry pioneer, and fraudster. As part of his attempt to create and control a British motor industry Lawson formed and co floated The Daimler Motor Company Limited in London in 1896. It later began manufacture in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

. Lawson organised the 1896 Emancipation Day drive now commemorated annually by the

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the world's longest-running motoring event, held on a course between London () and Brighton (), England. To qualify, participating cars must have been built before 1905. It is also the world's largest g ...

on the same course. Lawson rear-driving safety bicycle

Early years

Lawson was born on February 23, 1852 in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

the son of Thomas Lawson, a

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

minister and brass turner and his wife Anne Lucy Kent. In 1873 the family moved to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and Lawson designed several types of bicycle. His efforts were described as the "first authentic design of

safety bicycle A safety bicycle (or simply a safety) is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing ("ordinary") and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were kno ...

employing chain-drive to the rear wheel which was actually made", and has been ranked alongside

John Kemp Starley John Kemp Starley (24 December 1855 – 29 October 1901) was an English inventor and industrialist who is widely considered the inventor of the modern bicycle, and also originator of the name Rover. Early life Born on 24 December 1855 St ...

as an inventor of the modern bicycle. In 1879 he married Elizabeth Olliver (b.1850) in Brighton. They went on to have four children, two sons and two daughters. In the early 1880s he moved to

Motor promoter

Lawson saw great opportunities in the creation of a motor car industry in Britain, and sought to enrich himself by garnering important

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s and

shell companies A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...

. In 1895, as one of many attempts to promote his schemes and lobby Parliament for the elimination of the

Red Flag Act The Locomotive Acts (or Red Flag Acts) were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom regulating the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century. The first three, the Lo ...

, Lawson and Frederick Simms founded the Motor Car Club of Britain. Lawson and the Motor Car Club organised the first London to Brighton car run, the "Emancipation Run", which was held on 14 November 1896 to celebrate the relaxation of the Red Flag Act, which eased the way for the start of the development of the

British motor industry The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including Aston Martin, Bentley, Caterham Cars, Daimler, Jaguar, Lagonda, Land Rover, Lister Cars, Lotus, McLaren, MG, Mini, Morgan and Ro ...

. Lawson attempted to monopolise the British automobile industry through the acquisition of foreign patents. He acquired exclusive British rights to manufacture

De Dion-Bouton De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux. Steam cars T ...

and Bollée vehicles. He founded a succession of promotional companies including: The British Motor Syndicate ''— not to be confused with British Automobile Commercial Syndicate Limited''. BMS was the first of many of Lawson's schemes to collapse in 1897. Lawson also founded British Motor Company, British Motor Traction Company,

The Great Horseless Carriage Company The Great Horseless Carriage Company Limited was formed in May 1896 with a capital of £750,000 in shares of £10 each "of which £250,0000 was for working capital". The company was formed to carry on the horseless carriage industry in England and ...

Motor Manufacturing Company Motor Manufacturing Company Limited, incorporated 1902 following companies of the same name formed in 1898 and 1900 was the third and final revival of H. J. Lawson's The Great Horseless Carriage Company. In 1904 Lawson and business partner E. ...

, and with

E. J. Pennington Edward Joel Pennington (1858 in Moores Hill, Indiana – 1911 in Springfield, Massachusetts) was an inventor and promoter of many mechanical devices, including airships, motorcycles, and automobiles. In addition to motor vehicles, he appl ...

forming Anglo-American Rapid Vehicle Company. With his one great success, The Daimler Motor Company Limited, he bought in the rights of

Gottlieb Daimler Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf (Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. He was a ...

though this company too was to be reorganised in 1904. After a succession of business failures, British Motor Syndicate was reorganised and renamed British Motor Traction Company in 1901, led by Selwyn F. Edge.

Legal problems

Many of Lawson's patents were not as defining as he had hoped, and from 1901 a series of legal cases saw the value in his holdings eroded. Lawson's patent rights were subsequently eroded through successful lawsuits by

Automobile Mutual Protective Association A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

. In 1904 Lawson, along with

Ernest Terah Hooley Ernest Terah Hooley (5 February 1859 – 11 February 1947) was an English financial fraudster. He achieved wealth and fame by buying promising companies and reselling them to the public at inflated prices, but a prosecution exposed his deceitful ...

, was tried in court for fraudulently obtaining money from his shareholders and, after representing himself in court, he was found guilty and sentenced to one year's hard labour. Lawson was completely out of the automobile industry by 1908 and disappeared from the public gaze for some years. He reappeared as a director of Blériot Manufacturing Aircraft Company Ltd., the English branch of

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...

's aircraft company. Lawson secretly acquired control of the company just before a

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

to help expand its wartime effort in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

but the company soon found itself in breach of its contract with Blériot. When this came to light, the company was wound up and its director found guilty of fraud and dishonesty. Lawson survived being torpedoed on the ferry "Sussex" crossing the English Channel in March 1916. He retired from the public gaze and died at his home in

Harrow, London Harrow () is a large town in Greater London, England, and serves as the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow. Lying about north-west of Charing Cross and south of Watford, the entire town including its localities had a popul ...

on 12 July 1925 aged 73. After Lawson's death,

Herbert Osbaldeston Duncan Herbert Osbaldeston Duncan (1862–1945) was an English racing bicyclist, journalist, and pioneer of the British automobile industry. Duncan became interested in cycling during his time at Taplow College, and in 1878 he joined the Belgrave Bicycl ...

, former Commercial Manager of his ''British Motor Syndicate'', described him thus:
"He was neither a greedy man nor an egoist. On the contrary he was always fair and extremely generous. He paid largely and was most liberal in the golden days of his success. A cheque was always ready to be handed over with a kindly smile to friends who assisted him with his dealings or company-promoting schemes. Lawson was a clever man. Perhaps his greatest misfortune was in not being supported properly in his business by others equally intelligent." ( Duncan, Herbert Osbaldeston ''The World on Wheels, thrilling true tales of the Cycle & Automobile Industry'', vol 2. Self-published, 1926)

Early years

Motor promoter

Legal problems

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading