Biography

George Anderson Lawson was born in Edinburgh and studied sculpture under Alexander Handyside Ritchie. After entering the Trustees' Academy, where he was taught by Robert Scott Lauder, he established a Glasgow studio in 1860. Following a visit to Rome, Lawson moved to Liverpool and in 1864 went on to win a competition to design the city’s Wellington Column with his architect brother, Andrew Lawson. Moving to London in 1866, Lawson maintained his Scottish connections by contributing figures to Edinburgh’s Scott Monument in 1874 - Robert The Bruce, Baillie Nicol Jarvie and Diana Vernon - and creating monuments to Robert Burns in cities including Ayr (1892), Melbourne, Winnipeg and Halifax. Elected an Honorary Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1884, he died in Richmond, Surrey.