James Dawkins (c. 1696–1766) was an English landowner and politician.[ 1]
Life
He was the second son of Colonel Richard Dawkins of Clarendon, a plantation and slave owner[ 2] in Jamaica , member of the Assembly (died c. 1698/1701/1705,[ 3] of a Leicestershire family), and his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth Masters (d. 1702).[ 4] He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on 28 March 1713, at age 16.[ 1] [ 5] [ 6]
Dawkins, of Rusley Park, Bishopstone , Wiltshire , bought land at Over Norton in Oxfordshire , the Busby estate.[ 7] In the general election of 1734 he campaigned to become Member of Parliament for Oxford , but withdrew before the poll, despite having spent heavily. He was brought in unopposed, however, for New Woodstock , with the support of the Duchess of Marlborough.[ 1] In 1747 he lost his seat, to John Bateman, 2nd Viscount Bateman , who was backed by Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough .[ 8]
In the 1750s, Dawkins was considered a Jacobite . He died unmarried on 10 May 1766. His Over Norton Park estate went to Henry Dawkins , his nephew.[ 1]
Notes
^ a b c d "Dawkins, James (?1696–1766), of Over Norton, Oxon., History of Parliament Online" . Retrieved 11 June 2016 .
^ Sheridan, Richard B. (1994). Sugar and Slavery: An Economic History of the British West Indies, 1623-1775 . Canoe Press. ISBN 978-976-8125-13-2 .
^ Burke, Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland . Harrison.
^ Burke, Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland . Harrison.
^ Vere Langford Oliver (2000). Caribbeana: Being Miscellaneous Papers Relating to the History, Genealogy, Topography, and Antiquities of the British West Indies . CanDoo Creative Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-894488-02-0 .
^ 'Dabbe-Dirkin', in Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714 , ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford, 1891), pp. 366-405. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp366-405 [accessed 11 June 2016].
^ "bodley.ox.ac.uk, Papers of the Dawkins family " . University of Oxford . Retrieved 11 June 2016 .
^ "Bateman, John, 2nd Visct. Bateman [I] (1721–1802), of Shobdon, Herefs. , History of Parliament Online" . Retrieved 11 June 2016 .