Henry Merrick Lawson

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Merrick Lawson KCB (30 January 1859 – 1933) was a British Army General during World War I.

Military career

Educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy Woolwich, Lawson was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1877.^[1]

He took part in the Suakin Expedition and Nile Expedition in 1884 and served in the Egyptian Army during the Sudan Campaign in 1898.^[1] He served in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902 and then became Director of Movements and Quarterings at the War Office in 1904.^[1] He was appointed Commander of 13th Infantry Brigade in Dublin in 1906 and Major-General in charge of Administration for Aldershot Command in 1907.^[1]

He became General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in 1910 and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey and Alderney in 1914.^[1] He went on to be Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff in November 1914,^[2] General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in 1915 and then went into "Special Service" at the front in 1916.^[1] He was critical that too many men were doing "soft jobs" in the War and thereby encouraged the formation of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps.^[3] Finally he was Inspector General of Communications for the Italian Expeditionary Force from 1917 to 1918; he retired in 1921.^[1]

Family

In 1912 he married Lady Wilma, daughter of the 5th Earl of Radnor, and widow of 2nd Earl of Lathom.^[1]

References