Henry Merrick Lawson

British Army general (1859–1933)

Sir Henry Merrick Lawson

Lawson in 1933

Born| (1859-01-30)30 January 1859
Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland[1]
Died| 2 November 1933(1933-11-02) (aged 74)
Allegiance| United Kingdom
Service / branch| British Army
Years of service| 1877–1921
Rank| Lieutenant-General
Unit| Royal Engineers
Commands| Northern Command
Guernsey and Alderney
2nd Division
13th Infantry Brigade
Battles / wars|

* Mahdist War
* Suakin Expedition
* Nile Expedition
* Second Boer War
* First World War

Awards| Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Merrick Lawson, KCB (30 January 1859 – 2 November 1933) was a British Army general during the First World War.

## Military career

[edit]

Educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy Woolwich, Lawson was commissioned into the Royal Engineers of the British Army in December 1877.[2][3]

He took part in the Suakin Expedition and Nile Expedition in 1884 and served in the Egyptian Army during the Mahdist War in 1898.[2]

He served in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902, and following the end of the war in June 1902 stayed on as Deputy-Adjutant and Quartermaster-General to the Forces in South Africa.[4] He became Director of Movements and Quarterings at the War Office in 1904,[2] was appointed commander of the 13th Infantry Brigade in Dublin in 1906[5] and Major-General in charge of Administration for Aldershot Command in October 1907.[2][6]

Sir Henry Lawson

Lawson became General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in 1910 and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey and Alderney in 1914.[2]

He went on to be Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff in November 1914,[7] General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in succession to Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Plumer in January 1915[8] and then went into "Special Service" at the front in 1916.[2] He was critical that too many men were doing "soft jobs" in the war and thereby encouraged the formation of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps.[9] Finally he was Inspector General of Communications for the Italian Expeditionary Force from 1917 to 1918; he retired from the army in 1921.[2] He had been awarded the CB in January 1918.[10]

## Political career

[edit]

Lawson was twice a Parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party. At the 1922 general election he stood in the constituency of Portsmouth South in a straight fight losing against sitting Conservative MP Herbert Cayzer. Soon after, Cayzer resigned through ill-health and when the new Tory MP Leslie Orme Wilson also resigned on his appointment as Governor of Bombay, Lawson was pressed back into service by the local Liberal Association. His opponent in the by-election, which took place on 13 August 1923, was none other than Herbert Cayzer, health clearly recovered.[11] Lawson's campaign, while not returning him to parliament, reduced the Conservative majority from 5,867 to 2,121.[12]

## Family

[edit]

In 1912 Lawson married Lady Wilma, daughter of the 5th Earl of Radnor, and widow of 2nd Earl of Lathom.[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Man-Power in Egypt, Report". 17 May 1917.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Great War Forum". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
3. ^ "No. 24543". The London Gazette. 15 January 1878. p. 218.
4. ^ "No. 27496". The London Gazette. 18 November 1902. p. 7340.
5. ^ "No. 27928". The London Gazette. 3 July 1906. p. 4556.
6. ^ "No. 28070". The London Gazette. 18 October 1907. p. 6977.
7. ^ Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
8. ^ "No. 29035". The London Gazette. 8 January 1915. p. 278.
9. ^ Spartacus Archived 19 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ "No. 30450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1917. p. 6.
11. ^ The Times, 6 August 1923 p10
12. ^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1969 p219

## External links

[edit]

* Lawson, H.M, Man-Power in Egypt, Report, 17 May 1917, Cairo, Egypt, 1917.
* Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
* "Lawson, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Henry Merrick" . Thom's Irish Who's Who . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923\. p. 133 - via Wikisource.

Military offices

Preceded by

Theodore Stephenson

|  GOC 2nd Division
1910–1914  | Succeeded by

Archibald Murray

Government offices
Preceded by

Sir Edward Hamilton

|  Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey
1914  | Succeeded by

Sir Reginald Hart

Military offices
New post |  Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff
1914–1915  | Succeeded by

Sir Archibald Murray

Preceded by

Sir Herbert Plumer

|  GOC-in-C Northern Command
1915–1916  | Succeeded by

Sir John Maxwell

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data