Sir Gilfrid Lawson, 6th Baronet (1675–1749), of
Brayton Hall
Brayton Hall is a ruined former mansion in Cumbria, England. Once the ancestral seat of the Lawson family, it stood in a large park, with views of the surrounding countryside and the mountains of the Lake District in the background. Located 1.5 ...
, Cumbria, was an English lawyer and Tory politician who sat in the
English House of Commons
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...
between 1701 and 1705 and in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
from 1708 to 1734.
Background
![Brayton Hall looking South circa 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Brayton_Hall_looking_South_circa_1900.jpg)
Lawson was the son of
Wilfred Lawson of
Brayton, Cumberland and his wife Sarah James, daughter of William James of Washington, county Durham. His father was a younger son of
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 1st Baronet, of Isell
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 1st Baronet, of Isel Hall, Cumberland (c. 1610–1688) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1679.
Life
Lawson was born in 1610, the son of William Lawson, and his wife Judi ...
who left him Brayton, while the elder son was left the baronetcy and
Isel Hall.
Lawson matriculated at
Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
on 19 October 1695
and was admitted at
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
in 1700. He was called to the bar in 1702. In 1710 he succeeded his father to Brayton.
[
]
Career
Lawson was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
at the first general election of 1701 in February, but did not stand in the second general election of the year in November. He was elected in a contest at Cumberland at the 1702 general election defeating his cousin, Sir Wilfred Lawson. He decided not to stand in 1705 but was returned unopposed at the 1708 general election
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...
. He was returned unopposed again in 1710 and 1713. He was a moderate Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
, and a member of the October Club
The October Club was a group of Tory Members of Parliament, established after the 1710 general election. The Club was active until approximately 1714. The group took its name from the strong ale they reportedly drank.Pat Rogers, âOctober Club (' ...
. At the 1715 general election he was returned unopposed at Cumberland and voted consistently against the Government. In parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
he was plain Mr Lawson and two parliamentary speeches are recorded in the parliamentary proceedings (Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...
began in 1803). On 4 April 1717, after James Stanhope had offended several members after moving that parliament grant the King supplies to subsidise foreign powers, Lawson declared that no one but ‘such as ... were not the King’s friends’ could refuse to support the vote of credit for measures against Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. He further said that if a Member must be accounted an enemy to the King when he happens not to fall in with his ministers ... they had nothing else to do but to retire to their country seats. According to records, Lawson's inflammatory response accused the speaker of ‘interfering with freedom of debate’. An extract from Tindal's England (Vol 2) records:
::"...that he was surprised to hear such unguarded expressions fall from so respectable a person, and that if every member of the House who used Freedpom of Speech must be accounted an enemy to the King whenever he happened to disapprove of the measures of his Ministers, he knew no service they could render to their country in that House, and it were better at once to retire to their country seats, and leave the King and his Ministers to act entirely at their discretion."
On 15 Dec. 1720 he attacked the South Sea Company
The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...
directors, and four days later he seconded Sir Joseph Jekyll
Sir Joseph Jekyll (166319 August 1738), of Westminster, was a British barrister, judge and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons for 40 years from 1697 to 1738. He became Master of the Rolls in 1717.
Early lif ...
’s motion for a select committee of the Commons to inquire into the affairs of the Company. He was returned as MP for Cumberland in a contest at the 1722 general election. On 6 April 1723, he opposed the bill of pains and penalties against Francis Atterbury
Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ban ...
on the grounds of insufficiency of evidence. He was returned unopposed at the 1727 general election. No further speeches by Lawson are reported till 1730, when he spoke in favour of removing the duty
A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...
on salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
, as most affecting the poor. He also spoke against the removal of the duty on Irish yarn, and against the wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
bill in 1731. At the 1734 general election, he retired, giving his interest to his first cousin once removed, Sir Joseph Pennington, having ‘broke with all other considerable people in the county’.
Later life and legacy
Lawson succeeded his cousin Sir Mordaunt Lawson, 5th Baronet to the baronetcy
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
and to the Isel estate on 8 August 1743. He died unmarried on 23 August 1749 and the title passed to his brother Alfred.[
After Alfred's death in 1752, his eldest son Wilfrid received the title. ]Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 8th Baronet
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 8th Baronet (c. 1707 – 1 December 1762) was a British politician. He inherited the title on the death of Sir Alfred Lawson, 7th Baronet, in 1752. He was one of the Lawson Baronets of Isell, Cumberland.
Sir Wilfrid Lawson ...
(1712–63) became Sheriff of Cumberland
The high sheriff, sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferre ...
in 1756. In 1761, he entered Parliament for the Cumberland constituency after James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale
James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (5 August 173624 May 1802) was an English country landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 27 years from 1757 to 1784, when he was raised to the Peerage of Great Britain as Earl of Lonsdale. ...
who had been returned for that constituency, and for Westmorland, preferred to sit for the latter.[Furguson p.468 (1871)] Sir Wilfrid died in 1763, with no issue and the baronetcy passed to his brother Sir Gilfrid Lawson, 9th Baronet
Sir Gilfrid Lawson, 9th Baronet (1713 – 1794), was one of the Lawson Baronets.
He was a son of Sir Alfred Lawson, 7th Baronet and inherited his title in 1762 on the death of his brother, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 8th Baronet, who died on the way to ...
.[
]
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Gilfrid
1675 births
1749 deaths
People from Aspatria
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
Members of Gray's Inn
Baronets in the Baronetage of England
English MPs 1702–1705
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1708–1710
British MPs 1710–1713
British MPs 1713–1715
British MPs 1715–1722
British MPs 1722–1727
British MPs 1727–1734