Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 8th Baronet
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 8th Baronet ("c." 1707 – 1 December 1762), was a British politician. He inherited the title on the death of Sir Alfred Lawson, 7th Baronet in 1752. He was one of the Lawson Baronets of Isell, Cumberland. Sir Wilfrid Lawson 8th Bart (1712–63) became High Sheriff of Cumberland in 1756. In 1761, he became Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Cumberland 1761–1762. This was in 1761 after Sir James Lowther was returned both for Cumberland and Westmorland. John Robinson wrote to Charles Jenkinson that Lawson would no doubt be chosen for Cumberland should Lowther  vacate that seat. The new writ was issued on 9 December, and on the 14th Lawson, in a circular letter, announced his intention to stand. On 20 Dec. Lowther notified his friends that he had given his interest ‘entirely’ to Lawson on this occasion. He was returned unopposed on the 28th, and in his speech to the electors declared that he would be the better able to discharge the trust imposed on him ‘as he did not look upon himself as particularly obliged to any particular party’. At the election dinner he drank the health to the nobility and gentry  who were absent but had declared for Lawson. He was affectionately known as ‘The Clog Baronet’ because of his campaign for more equal assessment of the Land Tax. The circumstances are described Hutchinson (Vol 2) as follows: He was immortalised in a painting by A. Devis. Sir Wilfrid died on 1 December 1762 at Barnby Moor, Nottinghamshire, on his way to attend Parliament. Having no issue, the baronetcy passed to his brother, who became Sir Gilfrid Lawson, 9th Baronet.