Harry Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham

"Cirencester"
Levy-Lawson as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, November 1893

Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham, GCMG, CH, TD, JP, DL, (18 December 1862 – 20 July 1933) was a British newspaper proprietor. He was originally a Liberal politician before joining the Liberal Unionist Party in the late 1890s. He sat in the House of Commons between 1885-1892, 1893-1895, 1905-06 and 1910-1916 when he inherited his barony.

Biography

Levy-Lawson was born at St. Pancras, London, the son of Edward Levy-Lawson, 1st Baron Burnham and his wife Harriette Georgiana Webster. His name was legally changed from Levy to Levy-Lawson on 11 December 1875. He was educated at Cheam School, Headley, Berkshire, Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He became a lieutenant in the Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, treasurer of the Free Land League, vice president of the Municipal Reform League, and a member of the Executive Committee of Municipal Federation League.^[1] In 1891, he was admitted to the Inner Temple, entitling him to practice as a barrister.^[2]

Levy-Lawson was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for St Pancras West in the 1885 general election at the age of 23 but lost the seat in the 1892 general election. He was also a member of the London County Council from 1889 to 1892, for St Pancras (West).

He was returned to the Commons as MP for Cirencester at a by-election in 1893 and held the seat until his defeat at the 1895 general election. In 1905 he was elected at a by-election as MP for Mile End and lost the seat in 1906, regaining it in January 1910.^[3] In the interim he was Mayor of Stepney between 1907 and 1909. In 1911, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.^[4]

Levy-Lawson was appointed a Captain in the Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry in 1887, and later gained the honorary rank of Major. He later served in the First World War, where he gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was mentioned in despatches. In 1916 on the death of his father he succeeded to the titles of Baron Burnham and the baronetcy and took his seat in the House of Lords. He also succeeded his father in the management and ownership of the Daily Telegraph. He was decorated with the Territorial Decoration (TD) and became Honorary Colonel of the 99th (Bucks and Berks Yeomanry) Brigade, Royal Artillery. He was invested as a Companion of Honour (CH) in 1917.

Family, interests and Hall Barn

Hall Barn, around 1900

Levy-Lawson was created Viscount Burnham, of Hall Barn in the County of Buckingham, on 16 May 1919. His father, who was "one of the Prince of Wales' set", had purchased the 4,000 acre Hall Barn Estate in 1880. Viscount Burnham and his father hosted King Edward VII and his son, King George V and his son King Edward VIII on many occasions from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Burnham's Hall Barn Estate hosted many Scouts and Girl Guide events throughout the 1940s where the Princess Royal was reportedly a guest.^[5][6][7][8]

Viscount Burnham was a JP for Buckinghamshire. He received a number of honorary doctorates from McGill University, Montreal in 1920, Durham University in 1921 Athens University, Greece in 1924, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia in 1925, Ghent University, Belgium, in 1927 and Cambridge University. He was invested as a Knight Grand Cross, GCMG in 1927. In 1928 he sold the Daily Telegraph to Lord Camrose.^[2]

When he died, aged 70, Levy-Lawson had no surviving male issue; he and his wife Olive, had only one child - a daughter, the Hon. Dorothy Olive Lawson (1885-1937). Thus the viscountcy became extinct. His younger brother, William Arnold Webster Levy-Lawson, 3rd Baron Burnham (1864–1943), succeeded to the baronetcy and barony. Viscount Burnham was buried on 24 July 1933 at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Levy-Lawson had married Olive de Bathe, daughter of Sir Henry de Bathe, 4th Baronet and Charlotte Clare, on 2 January 1884 at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. The chief mourners at the funeral of his wife, Olive, Lady Burnham, on 29 December 1939 reportedly included her son-in-law, Major Hon. John Coke and his children, as well as Brigadier-General and Hon. Mrs. E. F. Lawson, Lord and Lady Remsley and Lady Howard Vyse.^[9] Viscount Burnham had a great interest in Antiquities^[10] as did his great nephew - William Edward Harley Lawson, 5th Baron Burnham (1920-1993) of Hall Barn^[11] who shared ownership of continental porcelain with Stamp Godfrey Brooksbank (1922-2017), the husband of Celia, the 5th Baron's second cousin.^[12]

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Harry Levy-Lawson
• Portraits of Harry Lawson Webster Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham at the National Portrait Gallery, London