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The Honble. Richard Maitland Westenra Dawson [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. 47, (1915), pp. 46-47.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1915 Exeter meeting. The Hon. Mr Dawson’s entry in The Peerage, indicates that he was born on 30 January 1845 and the son of Richard Dawson, 1st Earl of Dartrey and Augusta Stanley.  He married Jane Emily Long, daughter of Colonel Samuel Long and Emily Herbert, on 20 August 1878, and died on 7 August 1914 at age 69 at Chelsea.  He gained the rank of Captain in the 92nd Highlanders and held the office of High Sheriff of Devon in 1909.  He and his wife had three children: Richard Long Dawson (1879-1914), Emily Mary Dawson (1881-1903), and Norah Phoebe Dawson (b.1883) - (Extracted from The Peerage). The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

The Hon. R. Dawson, of Holne Park, Ashburton, and brother of the Earl of Dartrey, was ex-High Sheriff of the County of Devon, Deputy-Lieutenant and County Magistrate for the Ashburton sub-division of the Teignbridge Petty Sessional Division. He was also a member of the Dart Fishery Board, president of the Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Cottage Hospital, chairman of the governors of. Ashburton Grammar School, and a vice-president of the Ashburton Constitutional Club and the Mid-Devon Unionist Association. A Freemason, he was one of the founders of Ashburton Lodge, No. 2189. On the sale by Lord Clinton of his Ashburton property he became lord of the manor and borough of Ashburton. He was formerly county councillor for Ashburton district, and on one occasion was Unionist candidate for the Mid-Devon or Ashburton Division. For many years he was a director of the Devon and Cornwall Bank, and on its amalgamation with Lloyd's Bank he was elected on the directorate.
He became a life member of the Association in 1888, and has on more than one occasion officiated as Vice-President. His death took place in London on 7 August, 1914, at the age of 69, following an operation.