Dashwood Baronets

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Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer
Francis Dashwood,
15th Baron le Despencer

There have been two Baronetcies created for members of the Dashwood family, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. Both creations are extant as of 2008.

The Dashwood Baronetcy, of Kirtlington Park in the County of Oxford, was created in the Baronetage of England on 16 September 1684 for Robert Dashwood, later Member of Parliament for Banbury and Oxfordshire, with remainder, in default of male issue of his own, to the heirs male of his father. He was the son of George Dashwood, an Alderman of London and Commissioner of Revenue. George Dashwood was offered a baronetcy but did not take up the patent, and consequently a new patent was granted to his son. At the same time the widow of George Dashwood was granted the rank of a Baronet's widow. He was succeeded by his grandson, James, the second Baronet. He also represented Oxfordshire in the House of Commons. On his death in 1779 the title passed to his eldest son, Henry, the third Baronet. He was Member of Parliament for Woodstock for 36 years. His eldest son, George, the fourth Baronet, sat as Member of Parliament for Truro. When he died in 1861 the title passed to his son, Henry, the fifth Baronet. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire. As of 2008 the baronetcy is held by his great-great-grandson (the title having descended from father to son), Richard, who succeeded in 1972. See also the Dashwood Baronetcy of West Wycombe below.

Several other members of the family may also be mentioned. Arthur Paul Dashwood (1882-1964), third son of the sixth Baronet, was an engineer and the husband of the novelist E. M. Delafield. Henry Dashwood, brother of the first Baronet, assumed the surname of Peyton in lieu of Dashwood. He was a Member of Parliament and the ancestor of Henry Peyton, who was created a Baronet in 1776 (see Peyton Baronets for more information on this branch of the family). The Peyton Baronets were in special remainder to the Baronetcy of Kirtlington Park until the extinction of the title in 1962.

The Dashwood Baronetcy, of West Wycombe in the County of Buckingham, was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 28 June 1707 for Francis Dashwood, a merchant and subsequently Member of Parliament for Winchelsea. He was the son of Alderman Francis Dashwood, brother of George Dashwood, father of the first Baronet of Kirtlington Park. He married Lady Mary, daughter of Vere Fane, 4th Earl of Westmorland and 11th Baron Le Despencer. Dashwood was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, Francis, the second Baronet. He was a prominent politician and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1762 to 1763, but is probably best remembered as the founder of the Hellfire Club. In 1762 Dashwood succeeded his uncle as fifteenth Baron Le Despencer. He died without male issue in 1781 when the barony fell into abeyance (see Baron Le Despencer for further history of this title). The baronetcy was inherited by his half-brother, John, the third Baronet. He assumed the additional surname of King. For further history of the title, see the list of holders below. The Dashwood Baronetcy of West Wycombe is the Premier Baronetcy in the Baronetage of Great Britain. The family seat is West Wycombe Park, West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Contents

[edit] Dashwood Baronets, of Kirtlington Park (1684)

  • Sir Robert Dashwood, 1st Baronet (1662–1734)
  • Sir James Dashwood, 2nd Baronet (1715–1779)
  • Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, 3rd Baronet (1745–1828)
  • Sir George Dashwood, 4th Baronet (1786–1861)
  • Sir Henry William Dashwood, 5th Baronet (1816–1889)
  • Sir George John Egerton Dashwood, 6th Baronet (1851–1933)
  • Sir Robert Henry Seymour Dashwood, 7th Baronet (1876–1947)
  • Sir Henry George Massy Dashwood, 8th Baronet (1908–1972)
  • Sir Richard James Dashwood, 9th Baronet (b. 1950)

The Heir Apparent is the present holder's son Frederick Dashwood (b. 1988)

[edit] Dashwood, later Dashwood-King, later Dashwood Baronets, of West Wycombe (1707)

  • Sir John Dashwood-King, 3rd Baronet (4 August 1716 – 6 December 1793) was an English landowner. He was the second son of Sir Francis Dashwood, 1st Baronet, but the eldest by his third wife, and inherited lands in Lincolnshire and Wales from his maternal uncles, whose surname he adopted. John's interests lay largely in these lands, even after inheriting West Wycombe and the baronetcy in 1781.
  • Sir John Dashwood-King, 4th Baronet (1765 – 22 October 1849) was an English landowner, who succeeded his father in the baronetcy and inherited West Wycombe in 1793. Returned as Member of Parliament for Wycombe in 1796, he held that seat as a Tory until 1831. Bitterly opposed to electoral reform, he declined to contest the seat thereafter. Due to over-investment in local land, he died impoverished and left a heavily indebted estate.
  • Sir George Henry Dashwood, 5th Baronet (c.1790 – 4 March 1862) was an English landowner and politician. A liberal Whig, he represented Buckinghamshire and subsequently Wycombe, as had his father Sir John. He liquidated his grandfather's estates in Lincolnshire and Wales in 1851, and used the money so raised to overhaul the estate at West Wycombe. He was succeeded by his brother John upon his death in 1862.
  • Sir John Richard Dashwood, 6th Baronet (c.1792 – 24 September 1863), English landowner, was a younger son of Sir John Dashwood-King, 4th Baronet. He inherited the baronetcy from his brother in 1862, but died the following year.
  • Sir Edwin Hare Dashwood, 7th Baronet (7 September 1825 – 8 May 1882) was an English soldier and landowner. Raised to a military career, he served with distinction at the Battle of Sobraon, and subsequently became a sheepfarmer in New Zealand. He was the son of Capt. Edwin Sandys Dashwood and Emily Hare. His father died of delirium tremens in Paris in 1835, and the younger Edwin was educated at a military school in Germany. He obtained an ensigncy in the 10th (the North Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot, and went with them to India. There, he showed great gallantry at the Battle of Sobraon[1], planting the regimental colors in the Sikh trench-line. He shortly after left for England and exchanged into an English regiment. In 1848, Dashwood resigned his commission and emigrated to New Zealand, and bought a farm at Motueka and a sheep station near Blenheim on the Awatere River. In 1850, he and Captain E.M. Mitchell reconnoitered a route from Blenheim to Christchurch along the Waihopai River, which, however, proved unsuitable for sheep driving.[2] Dashwood Pass, which he discovered during this expedition, now bears his name. During his time in New Zealand, Dashwood, like his father and uncle, became an alcoholic, perhaps in part because of the death of his beloved sister Amelia in 1847. In 1852, he visited England again, and married Roberta Henrietta (d. 1901), daughter of Sir Robert Abercromby, 5th Baronet. They returned to New Zealand, where his sheep farming proved quite prosperous. The couple had two children: Sir Edwin Dashwood, 8th Baronet; Sir Robert Dashwood, 9th Baronet. In 1859, due to the illness of his uncle Sir George Dashwood, 5th Baronet, he sold off his New Zealand property and returned with his family to West Wycombe. He inherited that estate and the baronetcy in 1863 upon the death of his uncle, Sir John Dashwood, 6th Baronet. West Wycombe was to cause a great deal of trouble for Dashwood: Lady Elizabeth Dashwood, Sir George's widow, had been given life tenancy of the property and inherited most of his personal effects. Agricultural depression in the 1870s made the estates still less renumerative, and Sir Edwin found himself financially strapped for the remainder of his life. He died in 1882 and was succeeded by his son Edwin in the baronetcy.
  • Sir Edwin Abercromby Dashwood, 8th Baronet (28 October 1854–7 April 1893) was an English landowner. Born in New Zealand, he went to England with his father, Sir Edwin Dashwood, 7th Baronet, in 1859, but returned to New Zealand as a kauri gum buyer in 1874. On the death of his father, he inherited the baronetcy and the decaying West Wycombe estate, but did not return to England until after 1889, when he married Florence Norton in New Zealand. He mortgaged the estate, but died suddenly in 1893.
  • Sir Robert John Dashwood, 9th Baronet (3 June 1859–9 July 1908) was an English landowner. Born in New Zealand, the second son of Sir Edwin Dashwood, 7th Baronet, he returned to England in infancy. In 1893, he unexpectedly succeeded to West Wycombe and the baronetcy on the death of his brother. The estate was then in a ruinous state, and he was forced to sell off more property and lease the family's London house. He also died unexpectedly in 1908.
  • Sir John Lindsay Dashwood, 10th Baronet (25 April 1896–9 July 1966) was an English landowner and soldier, the eldest son of Sir Robert Dashwood, 9th Baronet, whom he succeeded at the age of twelve. He served in the First World War, serving in the Tank Corps and ending the war as an acting major. He married Helen Moira Eaton on 20 December 1922, and worked for the Foreign Office until 1927. After a brief stint as a stockbroker, he largely retired to his West Wycombe estate in 1930, although he served as Assistant Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps from 1933 until his death. When World War II broke out, he first served as a flight lieutenant with Balloon Command, but returned to the Foreign Office in 1942. In 1944, he helped to investigate the CICERO espionage scandal. Dashwood was made a CVO in 1952, and appointed an Extra Gentleman Usher to the Queen in 1958.
  • Sir Francis Vernon Hereward Dashwood, 11th Baronet (7 August 1925 – 9 March 2000) was an English landowner, known for his activities in restoring the family estate at West Wycombe. Like his father, Sir John Dashwood, 10th Baronet, he served with the Foreign Office during the Second World War and was posted to Mauritius. Dashwood briefly embarked upon a political career, contesting West Bromwich in 1955 and Gloucester in 1957 as a Conservative, but lost both times. That year, he married Victoria de Rutzen. He took over the management of West Wycombe from his father in 1963, and attempted to build a model village at Downley, but it proved financially unsuccessful. Through a variety of investments, Sir Francis was ultimately able to restore much of the estate and re-purchase many of the original furnishings before his death in 2000.
  • Sir Edward John Francis Dashwood, 12th Baronet (b. 25 September 1964) is an English landowner, the only son of Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet. He is the current occupant of West Wycombe Park, now in the ownership of the National Trust, the maintenance of which is supported by opening to the public and leasing the estate as a venue for filmmaking and entertainment.

The Heir Apparent is the present holder's son George Francis Dashwood (b. 1992)

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Sutlej Medal 1845/6 Roll. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
  2. ^ South Island Exploration. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.

[edit] References