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General First nameÉdouard Daniel (Daniel)
LastnameLawton
GenderMale
CountryFrance
Date of birth1881-11-27
Place of birthCantenac, Gironde, France
Date of death1979-03-27
Place of deathBordeaux, Gironde, France


About

Édouard Daniel Lawton, popularly known as Daniel, was the son of Édouard Lawton (1846-1933), a wine broker, landowner and native of Bordeaux, and Laure Lawton, née Lalande (1849-1940), who was also from Bordeaux. The Lawtons were originally from Ireland, but were well settled in Bordeaux by the time of Daniel’s birth in 1881. His paternal great-great-great-grandfather, Abraham Lawton (1716-76), a wine merchant and native of County Cork, was the original Lawton emigrant.

Daniel Lawton was a fine wine merchant by profession. On 7 April 1919, in Bordeaux, he married Jeanne Henriette Simone de Luze (1897-1997), who was also from Bordeaux. They had four children together. Jeanne de Luze was the daughter of Alfred de Luze, a wine merchant and head of the company A. de Luze, which was involved in the wine trade in Bordeaux.

Daniel Lawton had six siblings: three brothers and three sisters, at least three of whom – Henri, Anna and Charlotte also took part in lawn tennis tournaments. Some of their de Luze relatives were also lawn tennis players, as were members of other well-to-do families in Bordeaux such as the Flouchs, Samazeuilhs, de Clouets and Lalandes. Several members of these families intermarried and produced children who became lawn tennis players and also became involved in the wine industry in Bordeaux.

Daniel Lawton enjoyed most of his sporting success at the main annual tournament held at Club de la Villa Primrose in Bordeaux. This club was founded in 1897 by a number of businessmen, including several involved in the wine industry, and prospered in subsequent years. Daniel Lawton died in 1979 at the age of 97.
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The following is an English translation of an article that appeared in the French magazine L’Express on 16 November 2006. It tells some of the story of the Lawton family and how they came to settle in Bordeaux. (The Daniel Lawton interviewed is the son of the lawn tennis player who died in 1979.)

The Lawtons – Well-rounded wine brokers

By Sophie Brethes

On a pilgrimage in his ancestors’ footsteps to 88 Quai des Chartrons, [in Bordeaux], Daniel Lawton brushes with undisguised nostalgia the majestic stone façade of a building. Carved on it in capital letters, ‘De Luze’, the surname of his mother, a descendant of a famous dynasty of Swiss merchants, resonates with the memory of the cosmopolitan ‘bouchon aristocrat’, now in decline.

“Times change, no one is responsible,” the elegant 76-year-old gentleman says without bitterness, recalling, with a smile, the opulence of the quays of his youth. A constant coming-and-going of merchants, connoisseurs and dockworkers amidst the scent of wine, wood, and freshly unloaded produce.

A few metres further on, on the first floor of number 60, neither time nor the twists of fate have been able to destroy the Lawton brokerage house, built almost three centuries ago. The mischievous septuagenarian, surrounded by two of his nephews – he has no children – Erik Samazeuilh, 50, son of his older sister Evelyne, and Bertrand de Lesdain, son of his younger sister Nancy, continues to conduct his business brilliantly.

Under the benevolent gaze of his ancestors, whose portraits take pride of place alongside more recent family photos, also feature, amongst others, Philippe de Rothschild, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, and Bernadette Chirac. After Abraham, who arrived from Cork in 1739 to orchestrate trade with the Irish parent company, specializing in the wine trade, seven generations of Lawtons, from father to son, up to Daniel, distinguished themselves in the – very masculine – world of brokerage. A record longevity in a profession that has seen its thousands of crises pass by.

It was Guillaume, Abraham’s only son, who took up residence on the Quai des Chatrons, leaving the old premises on nearby Rue Borie. “Look at that handsome Irish head,” Daniel Lawton jokes, pointing to the baby-faced face framed by thick red hair. “A wine broker for fifty-two years, Guillaume was undoubtedly the most handsome among us. A pioneer, he had proposed a classification of grands crus long before the first, dating from 1855, was implemented in the Médoc.”

At that time, the illustrious ancestor would travel the land on horseback for days on end, crisscrossing the wine estates to taste the wines, before negotiating the price with the Bordeaux merchants.

Sport and hunting

Two centuries later, while the telephone and computers have somewhat changed practices, the fundamentals have endured. “The essential thing is to travel in order to build strong relationships with the owners and to know the vineyard well. After that, it’s all a matter of tact and discretion. You have to know the most to say the least,” says Daniel, who was initiated into the secrets of the vine by his maternal grandfather Alfred de Luze, owner of Domaine Paveil near Margaux.

The same education was shared by his nephew and successor, Erik Samazeuilh, who entered the business at the age of 24, after being taught by his grandfather Daniel Sr., who died in 1979. “He chose me,” he recalls, evoking the endearing personality of this eminent servant of wine from Bordeaux.

An early supporter of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Lawton ran the city’s social assistance office for the mayor in the post-war years. President of the Club de la Villa Primrose in Cauderan, a temple of the Bordeaux bourgeoisie founded in 1897 by his father Daniel Lawton Sr., who shone on the tennis courts, he was also an expert at snipe hunting.

Sport and hunting: two unshakeable pillars of Anglo-Saxon traditions that his son Daniel also honors. “Although we quickly lost the use of English, our circles always continued to assiduously frequent the Bouscat racecourse, and to play tennis and golf,” confides, with a good eye, this former international field hockey player, who was Head of Youth and Sport in Bordeaux, from 1974 to 1995.

His third nephew, Pierre, 48, son of his brother Hugues, who worked as a wine and spirits merchant, is no exception to the rule in this regard. At the head of a thriving fine wine company, this connoisseur of art, a skateboarding and sailing champion in his younger years, also elevates sport to the rank of religion.

His two boys, Paul, 10, and Arthur, 8, play lacrosse for the club, while Nina, 5, is eager to take her first steps on the green. Paradox: A polyglot and long-distance traveller, the last Lawton of his generation is perhaps the most attached to his roots: “In Dublin, over a pint of Guinness and some oysters, I feel at home,” smiles the man who gave his two sons the same middle name that of the patron saint of his beloved island: Patrick.

Media


Archive statistics Career1901 - 1920
Tournament wins2
Matches31
Match wins19


Tournament wins 1905 - Bordeaux Tournament (Amateur)
1902 - Bordeaux Tournament (Amateur)


Tournaments Royan - 1920 French National Championships - 1913 Bordeaux Tournament - 1912 Royan - 1912 French National Championships - 1910 Bordeaux Tournament - 1909 French National Championships - 1909 Bordeaux Tournament - 1908 French National Championships - 1908 Bordeaux Tournament - 1905 Bordeaux Tournament - 1902 French National Championships - 1902 Swiss International Championships - 1901 Engadine Championships - 1901