General Sir Richard George Lawson, KCB, DSO, OBE (24 November 1927 – 9 May 2023) was a British Army officer.
He served in South Kasai and then Katanga, where he became briefly famous for his part in the rescue of several groups of missionaries, and was nicknamed "Dick the Lionheart" by the Daily Express.
[9][10] From March to November 1967, Lawson undertook another secondment in a British colony on the verge of independence, the Federation of South Arabia (now part of Yemen), acting as GSO1 to the British forces stationed there, training local officers in staff duties, and overseeing the transition to local forces controlling security in Aden; for this he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 8 June 1968, in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
[16] On 7 November 1977 he took command of 1st Armoured Division with the acting rank of major general,[17] and received substantive promotion on 30 June 1978 (with seniority from 1 April 1976).
[19] Lawson succeeded Timothy Creasey as GOC Northern Ireland on 1 December 1979, and was promoted to lieutenant-general after his appointment.