At the time of his death, Lawson was chiefly known as a pro-Boer, and anti-everything else; a little Englander, a Peace-at-any-price Man, a would-be destroyer of the established church, the House of Lords, the liquor traffic, and several other institutions less robust. He supported payment for Members of parliament, women's suffrage, the construction of a Channel tunnel, the Irish Home Rule movement, opposed coercion in all its manifestations and stoically defended Free Trade whenever a threat appeared. After a long career his successes were few, although in 1892, after an eighteen-year struggle, he did eventually get a majority against the motion for adjourning on the Derby day. Today he his primarily remembered as a Temperance Reformer.