Sculptor and lecturer, born in South Moor, near Stanley, County Durham, who studied with Harry Thubron at Sunderland College of Art, and under John Skeaping at the Royal College of Art. In 1957 a Sir James Knott Travelling Scholarship enabled him to travel to France, Italy and Greece. He set up a fine art course and lectured in sculpture at Newcastle Polytechnic from 1961, later being made head of sculpture and remaining there for 25 years. After retirement, Lawson was several times an artist-in-residence and from 1987–9 was a visiting lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, and at the Royal Academy Schools. Showed extensively in the northeast of England from the mid-1960s. In 1994 he was invited sculptor at the RA Summer Exhibition, showing Gaia: The Scream, carved in oak.