In 1713 Dawnay was returned for Aldborough on the interest of the dowager Duchess of Newcastle, as well as for Pontefract on his family’s interest. A petition against his return for Aldborough was presented but no decision was reached on it before Parliament was dissolved, so that he was not called upon to decide which borough to sit for. He was re-elected for Pontefract in 1715 but unseated on petition, never standing again. In 1731 the 1st Lord Egmont describes him as a Jacobite, who would
not suffer the King to be prayed for in his family prayers, which he reads to his servants twice a day ... We have often heard of sermon hunters, but seldom of communion hunters. This gentleman makes it his practice to take communion every Sunday at some church or other if lying within a convenient distance ... For the rest, he is a sober man, keeps a large family of servants, though a widower, and I believe is charitable, though careful enough of his money. He has just parts enough not to be distinguished for the want of them.1HMC Egmont Diary, i. 191-2
He died v.p. 12 Aug. 1740.