Remembering Henry Lawton (memorial)

I first met Henry Lawton in the mid-1980s, when I attended my first IPA annual conference. He was a genuine asset to psychohistory in his capacities as IPA secretary, as coordinator of our group process sessions, and also, as founder and director of the Group for the Psychohistorical Study of Film. Even then, ill as he was, he continued to attend and present at the IPA’s conferences.

Henry was intensely devoted to psychohistory, which he regarded as a cause, not just a field of scholarly inquiry. Henry was horrified by child abuse and saw the IPA as a means of exposing and preventing it.

Occasionally the IPA attracted some strange characters. One of them, a South African who championed apartheid, targeted both of us with racist invective. Henry understood the roots of this man’s rage, which stemmed from his abusive upbringing. It would be safe to say that anyone this fellow chose to attack had to be doing something right.

I remember reading a book, which Henry was also familiar with, that sought to justify the sexual abuse of boys. Henry saw what the authors were getting at before I did. Henry was a pillar of common sense in the IPA, and he always championed the victims of injustice. My heart goes out to his family. He will be sorely missed in the psychohistorical community.

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