Henry Watkin Dashwood

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Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, 3rd Baronet (30 August 1745 – 10 June 1828) was a MP in the British Parliament. He was the eldest surviving son of Sir James Dashwood, 2nd Baronet and the brother in law of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway. He inherited the baronetcy on 10 November 1779.

He represented Wigtown Burghs 1775-1780. He was seated following an election petition after the 1774 general election. He failed to be elected for Canterbury in 1780. As a friend of the heir to the Duke of Marlborough he was elected MP for the pocket borough of New Woodstock and represented it 1784-1820.

Dashwood was the fourth Englishman to represent Wigtown Burghs in Parliament. He voted in support of Lord North in the 1770's.

In 1775 his debts had amounted to the enormous sum of £25,000 and his father had to pay them. After he came into his inheritance Dashwood sold most of the family estate to pay further debts.

He held the (unpaid) appointment of Gentleman of the Privy Chamber from March 1783 until his death. No more lucrative office was bestowed on the free spending Baronet.

Dashwood tried to persuade William Pitt the Younger to give him a peerage in 1794, as he was a supporter of the government. Unhappily for Dashwood no preferment was forthcoming.

[edit] References

• History of Parliament: House of Commons 1754-1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and James Brooke (Sidgwick & Jackson 1964)
• This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.