Henry Lawson (1826-1894) was born in Sheffield, the son of Clayton Grosvenor Lawson (an optician) and his wife, Hannah.  Henry was apprenticed as an optician, before becoming a surgical instrument manufacturer.   By 1849, he was a partner in Gray & Lawson, surgical instrument makers in Trafalgar Street.  His partner was Joseph Gray.  The arrangement had been disbanded by 1860.

By 1861, Lawson & Co was based in Carver Street.  Henry lived in Leavy Greave Road.  According to a trade advertisement, Lawson was awarded a prize medal at the International Exhibition in London in 1862.   This must have been Lawson, Buxton & Co at Shales Moor Works, which won a medal for its surgical, dental and obstetric instruments.  (Lawson, Buxton advertised in Pawson & Brailsford’s Illustrated Guide, 1862.) In 1865, Lawson Bros in Rockingham Street was listed as a surgical instrument maker.  By 1868, Henry Lawson & Co was at Cleveland Works in Rockingham Street, with Lawson living in Westfield Terrace.  By 1879, the firm was located in Carver Street, but had ceased trading by the 1880s.  Lawson became a ‘surgeon dentist’, but was bankrupt in 1893.  He was buried in Ecclesall on 6 August 1893.