[Illustration] It is not improbable that this family is descended
from Robert, a younger son of Vivian de Davenport, who settled at
Lawton in the 50th of Henry III. and assumed the local name: this
assertion is borne out by the arms, which are evidently founded on
those of Davenport. The pedigree is not however traced beyond Hugh
Lawton, who married Isabella, daughter of John Madoc, in the reign
of Henry VI. The manor of Lawton was purchased by William Lawton,
Esq. from King Henry VIII. It had been formerly held by the
Abbey of Chester, to which the Lawtons appear to have been tenants
from a very early period. Younger branch, Lawton of Lake Marsh, in
the county of Cork.
See Ormerod, iii. 11, and Lysons's Cheshire, p. 673.
ARMS.--_Argent, on a fess between three cross-crosslets fitchée
sable a cinquefoil of the first_.
Present Representative, John Lawton, Esq.