Died 1814 | ||
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Children James Dawkins, Henry Dawkins | ||
Henry Dawkins II (24 May 1728–1814) was a Jamaican plantation owner and Member of the Parliament of Great Britain (MP).
Contents
Background
William Dawkins acquired plantations in Jamaica, by grant, in the period 1669 to 1682. These descended to his grandsons James Dawkins I, and the sons of Henry Dawkins I, James Dawkins II and Henry Dawkins II, sons of Henry Dawkins I, all three being MPs. Both James I and James II left property in England to Henry II, who also inherited Jamaican properties from relatives, for an annual income of £40,000 to £50,000.
Life
He was born 24 May 1728, the second surviving son of Henry Dawkins (1698–1744) of Clarendon, Jamaica, a sugar planter, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Pennant of Clarendon, chief justice of Jamaica; James Dawkins II, who died in 1757, was his elder brother. He studied at St Mary Hall, Oxford from 1745,
From 1752 to 1758 Dawkins was a member of the assembly in Jamaica, and was then on the council to 1759. In 1760 he entered the Parliament of Great Britain as member for Southampton, holding the seat to 1768. He then was member for Chippenham, Hindon and Chippenham again, leaving Parliament finally in 1784, after a 24-year period when he had been M.P., considered a Tory and not to have spoke in the House of Commons, with only short breaks. He had been defeated at Salisbury, near his estate at Standlynch, in 1768. His son James succeeded him at Chippenham. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1778.
Standlynch Park
Dawkins sold his brother's estate at Laverstoke in 1759. In 1766, he bought Standlynch Park in Wiltshire (now called Trafalgar Park), from William Young, for £22,000. The existing Standlynch House dated from the 1730s. He had work done on the wings, by John Wood, the Younger, and on the portico by Nicholas Revett, an associate of James Dawkins through the Society of Dilettanti, to which Henry Dawkins also belonged.
When Dawkins died in 1814, Standlynch Park was sold for £90,000 to William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson. He put towards the purchase the money voted for his by Parliament in 1806. He changed the name to Trafalgar House and Park.
Family
Dawkins married in 1759, Lady Juliana Colyear, daughter of Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. They had eight sons and four daughters. The sons were:
The daughters were: