Mary Lawson

She grew up in a humble terraced house on Pease Street on the Freeholders' Estate in Darlington and attended Dodmire School. The Lawsons were a working-class family. Lawson's father, Thomas Lawson, was a craneman for the North Eastern Railway Company, while her mother died when Mary was only three. As a result, Mary was largely raised by her elder sister Dorothy.

Lawson began performing at a young age. When she was only five she sang at Feethams for soldiers wounded during the First World War and soon became a regular at Darlington's Scala theatre on Eldon Street. Read Less

Though she eventually acted in more than a dozen films, her screen career never matched her stage success. Her first major role was as Susie in Colonel Blood, which starred Frank Cellier. The most successful film that Lawson had a role in was the 1935 production of Scrooge, which starred Seymour Hicks and Donald Calthrop. She also appeared in films that included in their cast such notable actors as Stanley Holloway in D'Ye Ken John Peel? and Cotton Queen, Will Fyffe in Cotton Queen, and Vivien Leigh in Things Are Looking Up, and Bud Flanagan in A Fire Has Been Arranged. Lawson’s last film was Oh Boy! in 1938.

Between films she continued her stage career, including a starring role in Life Begins At Oxford Circus at the London Palladium. Lawson appeared in a number of theatrical productions up through the first year of the Second World War. In late 1939 Lawson participated in a series of shows for the benefit of the British military personnel. The last production that Lawson had a role in was White Horse Inn at the Coliseum Theatre in early 1940. Read Less

On 1 May the German Luftwaffe began a bombing campaign on Liverpool that would last more than a week. On 4 May as the warning sirens went off, family and friends at the home, including Lawson’s sister Dorothy, took safety in a shelter, while Lawson and Beaumont stayed in their room. The home was destroyed, killing the couple, while all those who sought safety in the shelter survived. Lawson's death was announced in newspapers around the globe, but was overshadowed by the greater destruction of the war. Both Lawson and her husband are buried in Liverpool. Read Less