Joseph William Lawson


Joseph William Lawson was an organist and composer based in England.

Life

Joseph was born in 1844 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, the son of Joseph Lawson and Elizabeth Saunders. When Joseph's mother died when he was about 13 years old, his father remarried Elizabeth Davey, who continued to parent Joseph. The 1861 census for England records that Joseph was a commercial clerk, like his father. By the time of the 1871 census Joseph was a professional musician.
Joseph married twice:
Firstly Joseph married in 1870 Jane Swallow, who died in 1875. The children from this marriage were:
Joseph married secondly in 1880 Ellen Eliza Brightman. The children of this marriage were:
He composed a set of evening canticles. The Nunc Dimittis was sung at his funeral.