DAWSON, Edward (1802-1859), of Whatton House, near Loughborough, Leicestershire

A young country gentleman, Dawson expressed his support for reform through the division lobby during his short parliamentary career. His family’s lineage dated back to the mid-seventeenth century when they had acquired the Long Whatton estate through marriage, and Dawson’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all served as high sheriffs of the county.1Burke’s landed gentry (1862), i. 352; J. Curtis, A topographical history of the county of Leicester (1831), p.xxiii; Gent. Mag. (1859), ccvii. 194. On his father’s death in 1815, Dawson, then at Harrow, succeeded to the family estates. After completing his education at Oxford he returned to Whatton House and in 1828 acquired the ‘beautiful seat’ of Launde Abbey through marriage.2Ibid.

Dawson was one of a number of ‘Whig and Canningite squires’ who supported the Reformer Thomas Paget in the 1830 county election against the Tory party and the Rutland interest. Their campaign was unsuccessful, but Paget and Dawson’s uncle, Charles March Phillipps, were triumphantly returned without opposition the following year.3HP Commons, 1820-1832: ‘Leicestershire’; A. Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester: a history of Leicester, 1780-1850 (1954), 180-1. At the 1832 election Dawson offered for the new division of South Leicestershire as a Reformer and, in an arrangement with his opponents, was returned unopposed with a Tory.4HP Commons, 1820-1832: ‘Leicestershire’.

Although he made a brief intervention in a debate about fraudulent petition signatures, Dawson, who appears not to have served on any committees, made his main contribution in the division lobby, usually voting with Radicals and Reformers.5Hansard, 13 Mar. 1834, vol. 22, c. 184. A good attender, he favoured the ballot and shorter parliaments.6Dod’s parliamentary companion (1833), 105; Morn. Chro., 27 Apr. 1833, 26 July 1833; Hansard, 23 July 1833, vol. 19, c. 1151; ibid., 15 May 1834 vol. 23, c. 1086. He backed the revision of the corn laws and the repeal of malt duty, but opposed currency reform.7Hansard, 24 Apr. 1833, 17 May 1833, vol. 17, cc. 586, 1378; ibid., 27 Feb. 1834, 7 Mar. 1834, vol. 21, cc. 925, 1346; Morn. Chro., 8, 10 Mar. 1834. He supported retrenchment, especially through the reduction or abolition of sinecures and pensions.8Hansard, 14 Feb. 1833, vol. 15, c. 714; ibid., 18 Feb. 1834, vol. 21, c. 547; Morn. Chro., 31 July 1833, 20 Feb. 1834. He opposed flogging in the army and of apprenticed slaves.9Hansard, 2 Apr. 1833, vol. 17, c. 69; ibid., 29 July 1833, vol. 20, c. 96; ibid., 14 Mar. 1834, vol. 22, c. 256.

Dawson issued a ‘formidable appeal’ ahead of the 1835 general election, but although his canvass met with a ‘cordial reception’, the strength of the Conservatives, who brought forward two candidates, was too much and he withdrew before the contest.10Morn. Chro., 29 Dec. 1834, 5, 6 Jan. 1835; The Times, 16 Jan. 1835. Leicester’s Reformers invited Dawson to stand for the borough in 1837, but they baulked at his insistence that they renounce systematic bribery.11Examiner, 12 Mar. 1837; Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester, 232. Thereafter Dawson was an ‘active magistrate’ for the county, and followed his forefathers by becoming high sheriff in 1839.12Gent. Mag. (1859), ccvii. 194. Although the constituency was dominated by the Conservatives, Dawson remained something of a figurehead for local Liberals, and was nominated, and then withdrawn, in his absence at the 1852 general election.13Morn. Chro., 16 July 1852; The Times, 16 July 1852. He died in 1859 and was succeeded by his eldest son from his first marriage, Edward Finch Dawson (1836-92), who pursued a military career, which included serving in the Crimea and India.14Burke’s landed gentry (1871), i. 334-5; ibid., (1886), i. 486; ibid., (1906), 441-2; Gent. Mag. (1859), ccvii. 194.