Thomas Lawson (1630–1691) was an English botanist and Quaker.

Life

Lawson was born 10 October 1630 at

Lawkland Lawkland is a civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England, near the A65 and west of Settle. It lies within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but was not part of the ancient Forest or the Lordship of ...

, in the parish of Clapham, Yorkshire, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Lawson. Educated at

Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...

, the local grammar school, he was admitted

sizar At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined jo ...

of Christ's College, Cambridge 25 July 1650. Lawson apparently dropped out of university, although his brother completed a course. Lawson became an adept in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. At some point in the early 1650s he became a clergyman at

Rampside Rampside is a village in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is located a few miles south-east of the town of Barrow-in-Furness, in the north-western corner of Morecambe Bay on the Furness peninsula. History There is evidence t ...

, a village on the Furness Peninsula. The village had a chapel of ease and was part of the parish of

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist Entertainment * Dalton (Buffyverse), minor ch ...

. During this period, although the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

was retained, episcopacy was suppressed and there was tolerance of independent churches. George Fox visited him at Rampside in 1652, and was invited to preach. Lawson soon after became convinced of the unlawfulness of preaching for hire, and at twenty-three gave up his living to join the Quakers. He was frequently distrained upon for non-payment of

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

, and was imprisoned. He was one of the early activists known as the

Valiant Sixty The Valiant Sixty were a group of early activists and itinerant preachers in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Mainly from northern England, they spread the ideas of the Friends in the second half of the 17th century. They were also call ...

. Lawson married, 24 March 1658, Frances Wilkinson, and settled at Great Strickland in

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 ...

, where he took pupils from the sons of the gentry round.

Herbalist and botanist

In the 1670s Lawson had to close temporarily his school in Westmorland because of problems with the authorities. In 1674 he taught botany to the daughters of

Margaret Fell Margaret Fell orMargaret Fox ( Askew, formerly Fell; 1614 – 23 April 1702) was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends. Known popularly as the "mother of Quakerism," she is considered one of the Valiant Sixty early Quaker preachers and m ...

at Swarthmore. (Margaret Fell, who was by this time married to George Fox, had seven daughters from her first marriage). According to the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

, this is our "earliest firm evidence" of Lawson's interest in botany. Gerard Croese called Lawson the most noted herbalist in England. John Ray, to whom he was close, speaks of him as a "diligent, industrious, and skilful botanist", from whom he received much assistance. Lawson was asked to contribute to ''Synopsis Methodica Insectorum'', which Ray planned but did not live to complete, and Thomas Robinson in his ''Essay towards a Natural History of Westmoreland and Cumberland'' used manuscripts supplied by Lawson's daughter. Several English plants were first noted by him, and a species of

hieracium ''Hieracium'' (), known by the common name hawkweed and classically as (from ancient Greek ιεράξ, 'hawk'), is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and closely related to dandelion (''Taraxacum''), chicory (''Cichorium''), ...

(''Hieracium Lawsonii'') was named after him.

Death, family, legacy

Lawson died at Great Strickland 12 November 1691, leaving land in Westmorland and Pennsylvania. A former pupil of Lawson erected a monument above the grave at Newby, which is a listed structure. In it were also deposited the remains of his wife, and their only son, Jonah. Of his three daughters the eldest, Ruth, whose letters in Latin are still extant, married without her father's knowledge Christopher Yeats, one of his pupils, who took holy orders; Lawson was rebuked by the Friends for his readiness in accepting the situation. His manuscript notes made on walking tours throughout England, giving localities of plants, and arranged under counties, came into the possession of a descendant, Lawson Thompson of Hitchin. To Yeats and his wife Lawson left most of his property, including all his manuscripts. Several of those were preserved at

Devonshire House Devonshire House in Piccadilly, was the London townhouse of the Dukes of Devonshire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Following a fire in 1733 it was rebuilt by William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, in the Palladian style, to designs ...

, and Thomas Ellwood, in a letter (1 July 1698) which is among them, recommends publication.

Works

He published the following: * (With B. Nicholson and J. Harwood) ‘A Brief Discovery of a Threefold Estate, &c.,’ 1653. * (With John Slee) ‘An untaught Teacher Witnessed against,’ &c., 1655. Against Matthew Caffyn. * ‘The Lip of Truth opened against a Dawber with untempered Morter,’ &c. Lond. 1656. * ‘An Appeal to the Parliament concerning the Poor, that there may not be a Beggar in England,’ 1660. * ‘Eine Antwort auf ein Buch,’ 1668. * ‘Baptismalogia or a Treatise concerning Baptisms; whereunto is added a Discourse concerning the Supper, Bread and Wine called also Communion,’ Lond. 1677–8. * ‘Dagon's Fall before the Ark, or the Smoak of the Bottomless Pit scoured away by the breath of the Lord's Mouth, and by the Brightness of his Coming,’ Lond. 1679. * ‘A Mite into the Treasury, being a word to Artists, especially to Heptatechnists, the Professors of the Seven Liberal Arts, so-called Grammer, Logick, Rhetorick, Musick, Arithmetick, Geometry, Astronomy,’ Lond. 1680. * ‘A Treatise relating to the Call, Work, and Wages of the Ministers of Christ, as also to the Call, Work, and Wages of the Ministers of Antichrist,’ 1680. These last four were reprinted in two volumes, under the title of ‘Two Treatises of Thomas Lawson deceased,’ &c., and ‘Two Treatises more,’ &c., in 1703. * ‘A Serious Remembrancer to Live Well, written primarily to Children and Young People; secondarily to Parents, useful (I hope) for all,’ 1684.

References

;Attribution

External links