Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 3rd Baronet, of Isell

Who was Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 3rd Baronet, of Isell?

Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 3rd Baronet of Isell FRS, was a British politician. He was educated Queen's College, Oxford, graduating in 1713; and was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1715. He was Groom of the Bedchamber to George I from 1720 to 1725; and was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society in 1718. He married Elizabeth Lucy, daughter of the Hon. Harry Mordaunt MP and niece of the Earl of Peterborough. The marriage produced two sons Wilfrid and Mordaunt and two daughters Elizabeth and Charlotte. He was one of the Lawson Baronets, the son and heir of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet, of Isell.

In 1717, Lawson stood for the Cockermouth constituency after Nicholas Lechmere accepted a ministerial position and accordingly resigned the seat. However, the returning officer made a double return, returning both Lord Percy Seymour and Sir Wilfrid Lawson. Both parties immediately petitioned against the result; Lord Percy, on the grounds that Lawson was a minor, while Lawson based his petitioned on the grounds of bribery. Although both petitions were withdrawn, Sir Wilfrid did admit the charge and consequently Lord Percy took the seat.

In 1718, Lawson became Member of Parliament for the Boroughbridge constituency. He made his maiden speech on 11 November, in support of the Government on the Address, voting for the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts, but against the peerage bill. In 1721, he figured in the report of the South Sea Company committee of the House of Commons as one of the Members who had accepted bribes from the Company, in his case £1,000 in stock.