Major-General Edward Frederick Lawson, 4th Baron Burnham, CB, DSO, MC, TD (16 June 1890 – 4 July 1963), was a British newspaper executive and Territorial Army officer who served with distinction in both World Wars.

[2][3][6] In July 1910 he was commissioned into the Royal Bucks Hussars,[7] a cavalry regiment of the recently created Territorial Force (TF), of which his father became honorary colonel in 1913.

[11][12] The casualties at Scimitar Hill had been so severe, and manpower wastage through the summer was so heavy, that the 2nd South Midland Mounted Brigade had to be temporarily reorganised as a single regiment, and was evacuated to Egypt in November for rest and recuperation, where it was reunited with its horses.

[9] After service in the Senussi Campaign with the Western Frontier Force, the Royal Bucks Hussars went to Palestine to join the Imperial Mounted Division, with which it served in the First and Second Battles of Gaza.

[16] During the final pursuit towards Damascus, Lawson's regiment was lent to T. E. Lawrence, under whose orders it charged the enemy rear and drove them into a trap, completing the destruction of the Turkish Fourth Army.

Lawson was a moderniser and skilful negotiator, supervising the installation of new printing plant, the takeover of The Morning Post in 1937, and chairing the labour committee of the Newspaper Publishers' Association for 25 years.

Until II Corps could arrive to plug this gap, Lawson was responsible for what the Official History calls 'the most dangerously exposed part of the bridgehead'.

At 11.00 on 28 May, advanced German troops reached the canal line, but Lawson seized on the Territorial gunners of 53rd (London) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, who were marching towards Dunkirk having fired off all their ammunition and destroyed their guns.

[3][28] In February 1941 he was promoted to the acting rank of major-general[29] and appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the new Yorkshire County Division, responsible for three independent infantry brigades that had been organised for home defence from newly raised battalions of conscripts.

[3][30][6] On the death of his father on 14 June 1943, Edward Lawson succeeded as 4th Baron Burnham of Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and as the 4th Baronet.

[2][3][6] With his newspaper background, Lawson became Senior Military Adviser to the Ministry of Information and was Director of Public Relations at the War Office from 1943 to 1945.