Harry John Lawson

Lawson organised the 1896 Emancipation Day drive now commemorated annually by the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run on the same course.

Lawson saw great opportunities in the creation of a motor car industry in Britain and sought to enrich himself by garnering important patents and shell companies.

In 1895, as one of many attempts to promote his schemes and lobby Parliament for the elimination of the Red Flag Act, Lawson and Frederick Simms founded the Motor Car Club of Britain.

Lawson and the Motor Car Club organised the first London to Brighton car run, the "Emancipation Run", which was held on 14 November 1896 to celebrate the relaxation of the Locomotives Act 1865 (the Red Flag Act), which eased the way for the start of the development of the British motor industry.

Lawson's patent rights were subsequently eroded through successful lawsuits by Automobile Mutual Protective Association.

[10] After Lawson's death, Herbert Osbaldeston Duncan, former Commercial Manager of his British Motor Syndicate, described him thus: "He was neither a greedy man nor an egoist.

(Duncan, Herbert Osbaldeston The World on Wheels, thrilling true tales of the Cycle & Automobile Industry, vol 2.