LAWSON, Wilfrid (c.1636-87), of Gray’s Inn, Mdx., and Brayton Hall, Aspatria, Cumb.

Sir Wilfrid Lawson seems to have regarded his second son and namesake as more suited to the role of a Parliament-man than his heir William. Wilfrid Lawson’s return for the borough of Cockermouth in January 1659, along with that of his brother-in-law, John Stapleton, was procured on the interest of his father, who owned considerable property in the area, notably at Isel and Setmurthy.13Supra, ‘Cockermouth’; infra, ‘Sir Wilfrid Lawson’. Lawson was apparently studying at Gray’s Inn at the time of his election, yet despite his proximity to Westminster Palace he seems to have been entirely inactive in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, receiving no committee appointments and making no recorded contribution to debate.14Cumb. RO (Carlisle), DLAW/4/5/1.

Like his father, Lawson may well have supported the Restoration, for within a month of the re-admission of the secluded Members in February 1660 he was named to the Cumberland militia commission and added to the county bench.15A. and O, ii. 1429; A Perfect List [of JPs], 10. In the elections to the Convention that spring he was returned for Cockermouth again after he and Richard Tolson had defeated the earl of Northumberland’s candidate, Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle*), on a poll.16Cumb. RO (Whitehaven), DLEC/107 (1660 election pprs.); HP Commons 1660-90, ‘Cockermouth’. Listed by Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton, among those Members who were expected to support a Presbyterian church settlement, he barely made any impression on this Parliament’s proceedings.17HP Commons 1660-90, ‘Wilfred Lawson’; G.F.T. Jones, ‘The composition and leadership of the Presbyterian party in the Convention’, EHR lxxix. 335.

Following his call to the bar in July 1660, Lawson may well have abandoned what little pretensions he had apparently possessed to a political career.18PBG Inn, i. 431. His name was omitted from the Cumberland commission of peace in the autumn of 1660, and in the elections to the Cavalier Parliament his place at Cockermouth was taken by his father after the borough’s voters had returned one of Northumberland’s candidates for the senior place.19HP Commons 1660-90, ‘Cockermouth’. Lawson figured little in county affairs after 1660, despite having a ‘considerable’ estate settled upon him at his marriage in 1665.20Cumb. RO (Carlisle), DLAW/1/115; DLAW/3/7/1; DLAW/4/6/1.

Lawson died in the autumn of 1687 and was buried at Aspatria on 10 September.21Aspatria par. reg. No will is recorded. His eldest son Gilfrid† represented Cumberland on numerous occasions between 1701 and 1734.22HP Commons 1715-54.