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, 8th Baronet (1712–1763), became
High Sheriff of Cumberland
The 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 transferred elsewhere or ...
in 1756. In 1761, he became
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 ...
(M.P.) 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 ...
1761–1762. This was in 1761 after
Sir James Lowther was returned both 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 ...
and
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
. John Robinson wrote to Charles Jenkinson that Lawson would no doubt be chosen for Cumberland should Lowther vacate that seat. The new writ was issued on 9 December, and on the 14th Lawson, in a circular letter, announced his intention to stand. On 20 December, Lowther notified his friends that he had given his interest ‘entirely’ to Lawson on this occasion. He was returned unopposed on the 28th, and in his speech to the electors declared that he would be the better able to discharge the trust imposed on him ‘as he did not look upon himself as particularly obliged to any particular party’. At the election dinner, he drank the health to the nobility and gentry who were absent but had declared for Lawson.
[''Sir James Lowther and Cumberland and Westmorland Elections, 1754-75'', B. Bonsall, Manchester University Press (1960), p. 58]
He was affectionately known as ‘The Clog Baronet’ because of his campaign for more equal assessment of the Land Tax. The circumstances are described Hutchinson (Vol 2) as follows:
::In respect to the Land Tax in Cumberland it may not be improper here to notice the laudable and patriotic zeal of Sir Wilfrid Lawson of Isel
ic who being a member for the county in 1760 (when it was in agitation to cause a new valuation of estates to be made throughout the Kingdom for the more equal assessment of the land tax) carried to the House of Commons a loaf of Barley Bread, a pair of wooden shoes (clogs) etc. in order to evince the poverty and low manner of living in the counties and argued so powerfully against the policy of the measure, that it miscarried; and so the Land Tax hath continued here as in other parts of the Kingdom, to be raised by assessing a particular sum upon each county according to the valuation in 1692."
Death
Sir Wilfrid died on 1 December 1762 at Barnby Moor, Nottinghamshire, on his way to attend Parliament. Having no issue, the baronetcy passed to his brother, who became
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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Wilfrid, 8th Baronet
1707 births
1762 deaths
Wilfrid
Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and ...
British MPs 1761–1768
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
People from Aspatria
High Sheriffs of Cumberland