Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet, of Brayton

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For other people named Wilfrid Lawson, see Wilfrid Lawson (disambiguation).

Sir Wilfrid Lawson

Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet (4 September 1829 – 1 July 1906) was an English

radical, anti-imperialist Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons
variously between 1859 and 1906. He was recognised as the leading humourist in the House of Commons.

Lawson was Member for

Justice of the Peace for Cumberland.[1] He was always an enthusiast in the cause of temperance and in 1879 he became president of the United Kingdom Alliance. He was, like his younger brother William, a forward-thinking co-operator and agriculturalist.[2]

Early days

Wilfrid Lawson the son of

foxhunting. He bought John Peel's pack of hounds after Peel's death and became Master of the Cumberland Foxhounds. From early childhood, he developed an exceptional talent for mimicry and a talent for writing rapid, fluent, and vigorous verse that played so conspicuous a part in the serious correspondence of his mature life.[3]

He received his education at home under the tutorship of John Oswald Jackson, a

Congregational minister of some repute.[4] In later life, both Lawson and his celebrated brother William[5] openly declared their lack of formal education. Jackson predominantly taught his pupils Greek and Latin prose, complemented with mathematics, natural sciences, political economy, English and foreign history, with the elements of rhetoric and logic to enhance the curriculum. Lawson also gained a fondness for poetry, in particular the works of Lord Byron, whose lines often adorned his political speeches.[6]

Family

Mary Lawson circa 1900

On 13 November 1860, Lawson married Mary, daughter of Joseph Pocklington Senhouse of Netherhall, Maryport, Cumberland.[7] Their union produced eight children; four boys, Wilfrid, Mordaunt, Arthur and Godfrey; and four girls. Ellen, Mabel, Lucy and Josephine. Ellen married Arthur Henry Holland-Hibbert, 3rd Viscount Knutsford (1855–1935),[8] they produced one daughter named Elsie and one son named Thurstan. In 1895, Mabel married Alan de Lancey Curwen of Workington Hall, and they had three children. In 1896, Lucy married Edward Heathcote Thruston of Pennal Tower, Mochgullith, North Wales[9]

In 1909, Josephine married

Viceroy of India
. Lawson succeeded to the baronetcy and estates upon the death of his father in 1867.

Early political influences

With limited access to his intellectual peers, Lawson received his political convictions from his father and a constant stream of influential household guests. In 1840, the family explored the consequences of adopting free trade and the repeal of the iniquitous Corn Laws. They eagerly digested the speeches of Granby, Disraeli, and the Duke of Richmond on one side and of Cobden, Bright and Villiers on the other, with the caricatured comments of Mr. Punch, to enrich the subject.

Wilfrid Lawson circa 1860

The Lawsons shared the opinions of

Whig refrains forged his character and formed his opinions and convictions pushing him along a path that led from romanticism and Evangelicalism to Cobdenism.[11]

Political style

In his lifetime Lawson was one of Britain's most celebrated and popular political figures and yet he was not a

Henry Labouchere. His strength of argument came from his unique way of transmitting the spoken word, which seldom lacked qualities of humour or entertainment such that his precise, logical, well-balanced arguments ranked high, when compared to contemporary political orators. Lawson became the chief jester to the House of Commons, where he contributed a rich, racy style to debates, earning him the epithet the "witty baronet".[12]

One of the many caricature depictions

Lawson was a member of innumerable societies and

Cobdenite of the Cobdenites and his contribution to the debate on radical reform, and foreign and colonial policy was significant. In the context of his radical philosophy as a whole, Lawson was a full-blooded radical, whose views covered a wide range and were almost always, very extreme. If the voting habits of an individual Member of Parliament can be used to place that person along the radical spectrum then Lawson belongs on the outer fringes, for it is doubtful if any member of any British political party or of any time in the history of the modern British parliamentary system, has ever voted in as many minority divisions as Lawson.[13]

Political career

Entry into politics

After

Manchester School in the form of Bright, Cobden, Miall, Milner Gibson and Layard
all lost their seats.

1859 Carlisle election

One of the reception rooms at Brayton Hall circa1890

After

Secret Ballot.[20]

1865 Carlisle election

Punch: A Most Effective Water Spouter

Under normal circumstances Lawson should have returned to the House of Commons in 1865; however, during the previous year he had introduced the

disenfranchisement. However, when his defeat became a forlorn conclusion he retired from the contest.[23]

1868 Carlisle election

By openly supporting Gladstone's desire to disestablish the Irish Church Lawson endured the wrath of the Church of England in the form of the Dean of Carlisle, who proclaimed Lawson the greatest radical in all of Europe.[24] To those who accused Lawson of "robbing a poor man of his beer". He retorted, "Far from the truth I am trying to rob the rich man of his prey, out of the plunder he makes, from the homes and happiness of the working men of this country." He also supported the need for a national education policy based upon a secular system with the capacity to accommodate the various religious interests.[24] Nationally the general election produced a landslide Liberal victory with a majority of over one hundred. Lawson returned to parliament at the head of the Carlisle poll.[25]

1874 Carlisle election

Vanity Fair
in 1872.

As the 1874

British Royal family.[30] On 2 August 1870, at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, Lawson had opposed Gladstone, who sought parliament's permission to increase the army estimates by £2,000,000 and 20,000 men. Lawson saw the vote as a danger to Britain and represented the first step in a direction away from a policy of non-intervention, war when not a necessity, as he emphasised, a crime and no war was justified unless strictly defensive. Although he threatened to walk through the lobbies unattended he received support from six radicals.[31] During the election, Lawson expressed his opposition to the ongoing Ashanti war which he saw as a continuation of the drive to open out Africa "We are opening out Africa to progress, civilisation and religion. I don't believe in the souls of a few being saved by destroying the bodies of many more out there. I don't believe in civilising and Christianising by the sword."[26] Unlike many of his Liberal colleagues, Lawson was re-elected[32] and would spend the vast majority of his time in the forthcoming parliament opposing Beaconsfieldism
and what he saw as unnecessary conflict.

Beaconsfieldism

Lawson began his campaign against

Prince Louis Napoleon, thus preventing his burial in Westminster Abbey.[38] He also led a successful opposition to the annexation of Basutoland by the Cape colony, thus maintaining the country's eventual independence from South Africa.[39]
Lawson summarised Disraeli's policies with the following statement:

"at the undertakings into which the Government had gone, the things they had done, or tried to do, or promised to do, or failed to do. They had set themselves up to frighten
Cetywayo, to smoke out Secocoeine, and to secure a scientific frontier for India. How he asked, had they tried to do these things? They had shifted our Indian troops up and down, moved our fleet backwards and forwards, made secret treaties, sent ultimatums to everybody with whom they had the slightest quarrel, engaged in two cruel and unjust wars and paved the way for any number more."[40]

Egyptian crisis

In 1880, the Carlisle constituency returned Lawson to parliament with an increased majority, while the country as a whole returned a Liberal government led by Gladstone. Lawson supported the claim of the

Transvaal Independence Committee,[44] from where he denounced the belligerence before applauding the negotiated settlement to end the First Boer War. The Egyptian crisis
followed. The British occupation of Egypt was the most important single act of British foreign policy during Gladstone's second administration and according to many historians has since become one of the classic case studies of the partition of Africa and of late nineteenth-century informal imperialism in general.
Ahmed Orabi.[51]
On one occasion, in a blistering attack on the Government's forward policy, Lawson reminded his colleagues of their probable response had the bombardment occurred under a Conservative and not a Liberal administration.

They would have had his right hon. friend the
non-intervention as the duty of the Government. (Laughter and cheers from the Irish Members). It was perfectly abominable to see men whom they respected, whom they believed in, whom they had placed in power, overturning every principle they had professed, carrying out a policy that was abhorrent to every lover of justice and of right.[52]

As quickly as

William Hicks Pasha, the Cabinet fully understood the serious nature of their involvement in Egypt. This resulted in the dispatch of General Charles George Gordon to oversee the evacuation of Khartoum. After supporting a policy of "rescue and retire" Lawson quickly withdrew his support he could find no relationship between what Gladstone described as "a small service to humanity," and the killing of thousands of Arabs.[53]
After the death of Gordon, Lawson applauded Gladstone's decision to evacuate Sudan.

West Cumberland

In 1885, after the reduction of the

Constitutionalists, Ruling Councillors, Knight Harbingers, Union Jacks and Union Jackasses; they were all out and out Tories.[56] Lawson returned to the House of Commons in the election of 1886, one of only three "Home Rulers" to capture a Conservative seat;[57] converting a minority of ten into a majority of over one thousand.[58] In parliament he vehemently opposed Arthur Balfour
's coercion measures. He served as
President of the second day of the 1887 Co-operative Congress.[59]

The Newcastle programme and the second home rule bill

Sir Wilfrid Lawson c1895

In October 1891, the Liberal Party held their annual conference in the city of

the Newcastle Programme as it became popularly known was a grandiose scheme that enshrined the majority of Lawson's outstanding reforms.[60] Lawson had waited a lifetime for the realisation of these enactments, and boasted: "If the chartists could rise from their graves they would not believe that the Liberal party had absolutely homologated those great reforms."[61] The election issue was no longer simply Home Rule; it was the full Newcastle programme, and Lawson was anxious to settle the Irish question to secure further domestic reforms.[61] Back in parliament Lawson continued to support Gladstone, who introduced his Second Home Rule bill, which, except for a reduced number of Irish members at Westminster mirrored its predecessor. As expected the bill's progress through Parliament was obstructed by the Opposition who emphasised all the inadequacies in the measure, which in turn justified the House of Lords rejecting the bill. In the Commons, the bill passed its third reading on 1 September. However, after four nights of obligatory debate, the Lords rejected the measure by a huge majority of 419 to 41. Lawson was furious, mend them, was not his way, "you only mend a thing you want to keep, and he never wanted to keep the House of Lords, he wanted to end them."[62] After Gladstone's resignation in 1894 Lawson's expectations crumbled.[citation needed
]

Boer war

The

Jameson raid and sought answers to questions relating to the role played by the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.[64] When war came in the form of the Second Boer War, Lawson was unapologetic in his criticism of the British government's policy. He became a prominent Pro-Boer and a member of numerous anti-war organisations including the Stop the War Committee, the League of Liberals Against Aggression and Militarism, and the South Africa Conciliation Committee. On numerous occasions, he voted against, and spoke out against providing finance, sending men, ammunition and supplies, in the vain hope that with sufficient support he could bring down the government and so end the war.[65] However, all his efforts came to nothing and in return he became one of the few pro-Boer politicians to lose his parliamentary seat at the subsequent so-called Khaki election
of 1900.

Camborne

Election Postcard

Following the death of

Free Trade
and temperance views while at home he began to campaign for the oncoming election. In January 1906 he returned with a majority of almost 600.

Temperance

Although Lawson did not enter the House of Commons on behalf of the Temperance movement he became their chief parliamentary spokesman. In 1863 he spoke in favour of a Bill to introduce the Sunday closing of public houses.

Convocation of the province of Canterbury, he asked that inhabitants of districts, being the persons most interested in the licensing of Public Houses, should themselves have the power of stopping such licensing, if they objected to having the trade forced upon them.[77] In the following year he moved his resolution on two occasions, In the first, he was defeated by a majority of 114 votes,[78] whereas on the second occasion he carried his motion by 26 votes.[79] Although he carried the motion again in 1881 and 1883 with majorities of 42 and 87, Gladstone's
government failed to enact the policy.

Death

The Start of the Funeral Cortege

On 30 June, though feeling tired and weary, Lawson went down to the House to record his vote. From where he returned to No 18, Ovington Square, Knightsbridge, London, went to bed and never rose again. The first part of the funeral arrangements took place at St Margaret's Church, Westminster amidst a large gathering of members of Parliament, family members, personal friends, and representatives of public bodies.

The End of the Funeral Cortege

The interment of the remains took place at Aspatria churchyard on the following day. The large concourse of people who followed the coffin from Brayton Hall to the churchyard was representative of the political and public life of the county, whilst the temperance organisations represented were of a national character. The inscription on the coffin read:- Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet, Born 4 September 1829, Died 1 July 1906.[80]

At the time of his death, Lawson was chiefly known as a pro-Boer, and anti-everything else; a

Privy Councillorship by Henry Campbell-Bannerman
he declined.

Memorials

The Sir Wilfrid Lawson Memorial, Aspatria

On 21 April 1908, the

Temperance
, in which is portrayed a young girl offering a traveller a drink of water, drawn from an adjoining well. On the left-hand side a third panel depicts Peace, on which appears a tribesman dressed in savage garb, clasping the hand of friendship held out by a warrior kneeling at the feet of a winged Angel, which crowned by a halo is rising in the background. The fourth panel bears the following inscription:

Remember
Wilfrid Lawson
2nd Baronet of Brayton & Isel
In whose honour this fountain is erected by his many friends and admirers. Beloved for the integrity of his life and the height of his ideals. An example for all time for one who gave himself for others, believing in the brotherhood of man. A lover of truth and mercy, a brave and strenuous advocate of temperance, which sacred cause he championed in the House of Commons for forty years with gay wisdom and perseverance.
Unveiling of Sir Welfrid Lawson Memorial at Aspatria 21 April 1908

On 6 June 1908, the Lawson family installed a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of their late patriarch, in the east end of Aspatria Church. The window is large and beautifully ornate, and symbolises the characters and scene of the last chapter of Revelations.[82]

On 20 July 1909, the members of the

suffragettes, by the then prime minister, H. H. Asquith
, who said:

"Sir Wilfrid Lawson was one of the most remarkable and certainly one of the most attractive political characters of the times. He was an apostle not of lost but of gaining causes, content for most of his life to be in the minority, but watching year by year the minority slowly developing into the majority of the future. I doubt very much whether we shall ever see again in our time a combination in one and the same man of such fearlessness and courage, such a passionate love for freedom, such a single minded independence and self devotion, such an enduring and strenuous assiduity in pursuit of the cause once taken up, and never by him to be laid down; such a combination.".[83]

The bronze statue, designed by David McGill, is striking, life-like and shows Lawson, in an attitude of debate. On the front of the pedestal on which it stands is the inscription: – "Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bart., of Brayton, Cumberland; born September 4th, 1829: Member of Parliament for Carlisle, Cockermouth, Camborne, 1859 1906; president of the United Kingdom Temperance Alliance, 1879 1909." On one side of the pedestal are the words. "A true patriot, a wise and witty orator, a valiant and farseeing reformer, he spent a long life as the courageous champion of righteousness, peace, freedom and temperance." On the other side, the inscription runs. "Erected by his friends and followers in grateful remembrance of his splendid leadership, and of his pure and unworldly life, July 20th, 1909."

Statue of Sir Wilfrid Lawson in the Victoria Embankment Gardens

See also

References

  1. ^ Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881
  2. ^ The Concise Dictionary of National Biography, Vol 2-page 1743
  3. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell page 9
  4. ^ Some Notable Cumbrians, Chance page 60
  5. ^ Ten Years of Gentleman Farming, Lawson and Hunter, page 14
  6. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell page 56-57
  7. ^ Carlisle Journal 16 November 1860
  8. ^ Maryport Advertiser, 7 November 1884
  9. ^ West Cumberland Times, 9 May 1896.
  10. ^ The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain, Jonathon Parry, (Yale 1993), page 163
  11. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell page 296-300
  12. ^ A Diary of Two Parliaments: Disraeli's Parliament 1874–1880, Henry. W Lucy, published in 2 Vol.s, (London 1885), page 100-1
  13. ^ Wilfrid Lawson: Attitudes and Opinions on Britain's Imperial and Foreign Policy (1868–1892) by Terry Carrick (Unpublished Thesis for a PhD) pages 33–36
  14. ^ a b The Carlisle Patriot, 10 April 1857
  15. ^ The Carlisle Patriot, 10 April 1859
  16. ^ Life and Letters of Sir James Graham, 1792–1861, Vol. 2, Charles Stuart Parker, page 379-380, (London 1907)
  17. ^ The Carlisle Patriot,16 April 1859
  18. ^ Carlisle Patriot, 16 April 1859
  19. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson, W.B. Luke, Simpkin (London 1900) page 17
  20. ^ Hansard Vol 157, 20 March 1860, Col. 940
  21. ^ Hansard Vol. 175 Col. 1423
  22. ^ The Times, 13 July 1865
  23. ^ Carlisle Journal, 13 July 1866
  24. ^ a b Carlisle Journal, 1 September 1868
  25. ^ The Carlisle Journal, 20 November 1868
  26. ^ a b Carlisle Journal, 16 January 1874
  27. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, G.W.E. Russell pages 81–102
  28. ^ Hansard, 10 May 1870, Vol. 201, mCols 480–490
  29. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, G.W.E. Russell page 86
  30. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson, W.B. Luke pages 72–73
  31. ^ Hansard Vol. 203, Col. 1441, 2 August 1870
  32. ^ Carlisle Journal, 6 February 1874
  33. ^ Hansard 3rd ser., Vol. 221 cols. 1264–1301
  34. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson, A Memoir, G.W.E. Russell (London 1909) page 133-8
  35. ^ Hansard 3rd ser., Vol. 243 col. 999, 17 December 1878
  36. ^ Hansard 3rd ser., Vol. 249 col. 153, 4 August 1879
  37. ^ Hansard 3rd ser., Vol. 252 col. 1620, 10 June 1880
  38. ^ The Times 16 July 1880
  39. ^ Hansard 3rd ser., Vol. 257, col. 1071, 20 January 1881
  40. ^ The West Cumberland Times, 31 January 1880
  41. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson, A Memoir, G.W.E. Russell (London 1909) pages 149–50
  42. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson, A Memoir, G.W.E. Russell (London 1909) pages 157–58
  43. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson, A Memoir, G.W.E. Russell (London 1909) pages 165
  44. ^ The Arbitrator, January 1881
  45. ^ Robinson and Gallagher, pages 122–210
  46. ^ Trouble Makers, A.J.P. Taylor, p. 81
  47. ^ Hansard 26 Vol 269 Cols 1711 – 32 May 1882
  48. ^ Hansard, Vol. 272 Col. 708 17 July 1882
  49. ^ Hansard, Vol. 272 Col. 1335 & 1338 25 July 1882
  50. ^ Hansard, Vol. 274 Col. 32 24 October 1882
  51. ^ Hansard Vol. 274 Col. 275 26 October 1882
  52. ^ Hansard, vol. 272, col. 172, 12 July 1882
  53. ^ Hansard Vol 284 col. 896–911 14 February 1884
  54. ^ West Cumberland Times, 1 November 1881
  55. ^ West Cumberland Times, 6 December 1885
  56. ^ The West Cumberland Times, 7 January 1888
  57. ^ The West Cumberland Times, 10 June 1887
  58. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell page 187
  59. ^ Congress Presidents 1869–2002 (PDF), February 2002, archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2008, retrieved 10 May 2008
  60. ^ National Liberal Federation, Fourteenth Annual Conference 1891
  61. ^ a b The West Cumberland Times, 20 June 1892
  62. ^ The West Cumberland Times, 8 January 1890
  63. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell page 247
  64. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell page 230, 236, 253
  65. ^ Hansard, Vol. 86 Cols. 1246-8 3 March 1899
  66. ^ West Cumberland Times, 20 May 1903
  67. ^ Hansard 3 June 1863 vol 171 cc277-319
  68. ^ Hansard, 16 July 1863 vol 172 cols 928-33
  69. ^ Hansard, 8 June 1864 vol 175 cols 1390-423
  70. ^ Hansard, 12 May 1869 vol 196 cols 637-83
  71. ^ Hansard, 13 July 1870 vol 203 cols 169-91
  72. ^ Hansard, 17 May 1871 vol 206 cols 917-53
  73. ^ Hansard, 7 May 1873 vol 215 cols 1609–64
  74. ^ Hansard, 17 June 1874 vol 220 cols 2–61
  75. ^ Hansard, 14 June 1876 vol 229 col 1821–83
  76. ^ Hansard 26 June 1878 vol 241 cols 251-97
  77. ^ Hansard, 11 March 1879 vol 244 cols 632–753
  78. ^ Hansard, 5 March 1880 vol 251 cols 441–528
  79. ^ Hansard, 18 June 1880 vol 253 cols 340-89
  80. ^ Carlisle Journal 6 July 1906
  81. ^ Hansard, 31 May 1892 vol 5 cc382-91
  82. ^ The West Cumberland Times, 9 June 1908
  83. ^ Sir Wilfrid Lawson: A Memoir, Russell pages 375–88

Bibliography

  • Sir Wilfrid Lawson by W B Luke (Political Biography published by Simpkin Marshall of London in 1900).
  • Sir Wilfrid Lawson A Memoir Edited by
    G W E Russell
    (Political Biography published by Smith Elder & Co. of London in 1909).
  • Wisdom Grave & Gay Being Selected Speeches of Sir Wilfrid Lawson on Social Reform &c Edited by R A Jamieson (Published by S W Partridge & Co of London in 1889).
  • Cartoons in Rhyme And Line By Sir Wilfrid Lawson and F Carruthers Gould (Published by T Fisher Unwin of London in 1905).
  • Wilfrid Lawson: Attitudes and Opinions on Britain's Imperial and Foreign Policy (1868–1892) by Terry Carrick (Unpublished Thesis for a PhD)
  • Some Notable Cumbrians by Sir F. Chance (Published By Thurnhams Carlisle 1931)
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 32, (Oxford 2004)
  • The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain, Jonathon Parry, (Yale 1993)
  • A Diary of Two Parliaments: Disraeli's Parliament 1874–1880, Henry. W Lucy, published in 2 Vols, (London 1885)
  • Life and Letters of Sir James Graham, 1792–1861, Vol. 2, Charles Stuart Parker, (London 1907)
  • Africa and the Victorians: The Official Mind of Imperialism, Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher with Alice Denny, Macmillan (London 1967)

External links

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