Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 3rd Baronet, of Brayton

Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 3rd Baronet, of Brayton (21 October 1862 – 28 August 1937)[1] was an English Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1910 to 1916.

He left Harrow in 1881 and entered Trinity College, Oxford where again he displayed his scholastic and athletic abilities, becoming a very good polo player.

[2] In the summer of 1911, Lawson travelled as a tourist to Iceland, where he happened to meet the Swedish author, painter, and cartoonist Albert Engström (1869–1940), who was also visiting the island.

Lawson decided to join Engström and his travel companion, the botanist Thorild Wulff (1877–1917), on their journey, and together with the two Swedes, he climbed to the summit of Hekla, on 10 August.

Engström was impressed and bemused by Lawson’s exuberant energy and eccentricity, and in his travelogue Åt Häcklefjäll (1913) he calls him "one of the most unconventional fellows I have met on my journey through life".

He also possessed the same gift of making very witty and appropriate speeches on a wide range of related subjects, which he enlivened with spicy tales and racy anecdotes.

In January 1889, Lawson stood as a candidate for the Cumberland County Council for the Bridekirk division but was defeated by 166 votes.

He had two opponents, the sitting Conservative member Sir John Randles and a Labour party candidate named Whitehead.

Lawson had a peculiar style, appearing to ride by balance, sitting upright in cavalry fashion, which may have accounted for several of his falls.

[13] In April 1934, while riding his aged brown Gelding, Tinker B in the Cumberland Farmers Hunt Point-to-Point he was thrown over a fence and to make matters worse the horse rolled over him.

Although in a critical state he eventually made a complete recovery and in the following year resumed his hunting, horse riding and playing cricket.

[15] On Saturday 27 August 1937, an apparently healthy Lawson left the cricket pavilion, a few yards away from his home to take his place at the wicket.

On his way to the crease he passed some jocular remarks about the tail end of the team having to shoulder the responsibility caused by the failure of the earlier batsmen.

He quickly scored three runs, and after playing a ball back to the bowler, he recovered his stance only to fall to the ground, and with a slight groan his life had passed.