LAWSON, Lieut. Frank (1888-1916) was the son of the well-known Calgary architect Frank James Laswon (1860-1952), and he was born in Inverness, Scotland on 30 March 1888. He was brought to Canada by his family in 1894 and attended Western Canada College in Calgary. He was likely encouraged to pursue a career in architecture by his father who sent to him to study engineering and architecture at McGill University in Montreal in 1910-14. After graduation in 1914, he returned to Calgary and briefly worked in his father's office, but left in 1915 to join the Canadian Army during WWI. He was killed in action at St. Eloi, France on 12 April 1916 (obituary Calgary Herald, 15 April 1916, 1 and 11). According to an interview and commentary from his father, recorded in the Calgary Herald on 29 March 1938, 11, his son was responsible for the architectural design of three early bridge structures in Calgary, including the upper deck, balustrades, piers and abutments on bridges over the Elbow River, and across the Bow River.
(works in Calgary)
CENTRE STREET BRIDGE, Centre Street at 18th Avenue, over the Elbow River, c. 1913-14
MISSION BRIDGE, 4th Street at 26th Avenue, over the Elbow River, c. 1913-14
HILLHURST BRIDGE, 10th Street, over the Bow River, c. 1913-14