Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet, of Brayton
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Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet (4 September 1829 – 1 July 1906) was a British Liberal Party politician and temperance leader.
Son of the 1st baronet (d. 1867), he was always an enthusiast in the cause of total abstinence and in Parliament, to which he was first elected in 1859 for Carlisle, he became its leading spokesman.
In 1864 he first introduced his Permissive Bill, giving to a two-thirds majority in any district a veto upon the granting of licences for the sale of intoxicating liquors; and though this principle failed to be embodied in any act, he had the satisfaction of seeing a resolution on its lines accepted by a majority in the House of Commons in 1880, 1881 and 1883. He lost his seat for Carlisle in 1865, but in 1868 was again returned as a supporter of Gladstone, and was member till 1885; though defeated for the new Cockermouth division of Cumberland in 1885, he won that seat in 1886, and he held it till the election of 1900, when his violent opposition to the Second Boer War caused his defeat, but in 1903 he was returned for the Camborne division of Cornwall and at the general election of 1906 was once more elected for his old constituency in Cumberland.
During all these years he was the champion of the United Kingdom Alliance (founded 1853), of which he became president. An extreme Radical, he also supported disestablishment, abolition of the House of Lords, and disarmament. Though violent in the expression of his opinions, Sir Wilfrid Lawson remained very popular for his own sake both in and out of the House of Commons; he became well known for his humorous vein, his faculty for composing topical doggerel being often exercised on questions of the day.
He served as President of the second day of the 1887 Co-operative Congress.[1]
With F. C. Gould he published Cartoons in Rhyme and Line (1905)[1] and Crisps (1907)
[edit] Bibliography
- Sir Wilfred Lawson by W B Luke (Political Biography published by Simpkin Marshall of London in 1900).
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Nicholson Hodgson and Sir James Graham |
Member of Parliament for Carlisle with Sir James Graham, 1852–1861; Edmund Potter, 1861–1874 1859–1865 |
Succeeded by William Nicholson Hodgson and Edmund Potter |
| Preceded by William Nicholson Hodgson and Edmund Potter |
Member of Parliament for Carlisle with Edmund Potter, 1861–1874; Robert Ferguson, 1974–1886 1868–1885 |
Succeeded by Robert Ferguson |
| Preceded by Charles James Valentine |
Member of Parliament for Cockermouth 1886–1900 |
Succeeded by Sir John Scurrah Randles |
| Preceded by William Sproston Caine |
Member of Parliament for Camborne 1903–1906 |
Succeeded by Albert Edward Dunn |
| Preceded by Sir John Scurrah Randles |
Member of Parliament for Cockermouth 1906–1906 |
Succeeded by Sir John Scurrah Randles |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Wilfrid Lawson |
Baronet (of Brayton, Cumberland) 1867–1906 |
Succeeded by Wilfrid Lawson |
