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Francis Dashwood

The Right Honourable
The Lord le Despencer
PC FRS
Francis Baron le Despencer by Nathaniel Dance-Holland.jpg
2nd Postmaster-General
In office
1765–1781
Prime Minister Various
Preceded by The Earl of Bessborough
Succeeded by The Viscount Barrington
Master of the Great Wardrobe
In office
1763–1765
Monarch George III
Preceded by The Earl Gower
Succeeded by The Earl of Ashburnham
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
1762–1763
Prime Minister The Earl of Bute
Preceded by The Viscount Barrington
Succeeded by George Grenville
Treasurer of the Chamber
In office
1761–1762
Monarch George III
Preceded by Charles Townshend
Succeeded by Sir Gilbert Elliot
Member of Parliament
for New Romney
In office
1741–1761
Preceded by Sir Robert Austen
Succeeded by Thomas Knight
Personal details
Born December 1708
Westminster, Middlesex, England
Died 11 December 1781(1781-12-11) (aged 72–73)
West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Tory
Alma mater Eton College

Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer PC FRS (December 1708 – 11 December 1781) was an English rake and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1762–1763) and founder of the Hellfire Club.

Dashwood was born in Great Marlborough Street, London, in December 1708. He was only son of Sir Francis Dashwood, 1st Baronet (died 1724), and his second wife Mary, eldest daughter of Vere Fane, 4th Earl of Westmorland.

Dashwood was educated at Eton College where he became associated with William Pitt the Elder. Upon the death of his father on 4 November 1724, Dashwood, who was only fifteen, inherited his father's estates and the Baronetcy of Dashwood of West Wycombe.

Dashwood spent his youth and early adulthood abroad gaining a reputation for notoriety while travelling around Europe. He impersonated Charles XII while in Russia and attempted to seduce Tsarina Anne, and was later expelled from the Papal states.

His sojourns abroad did also include classical aspects of the European Grand Tour. After travelling to France and then returning via Germany to England between January and September 1726, he did not venture abroad again until 1729, when he was away for two years returning in 1731. During this time he visited Italy (he was to return to Italy between 1739 and 1741 when stayed in Florence and Rome and visited Leghorn and the excavations at Herculaneum). While in Italy he befriended the philosopher and theologian Antonio Niccolini (1701–1769). In 1733—between the visits to Italy—Dashwood accompanied George, Lord Forbes, envoy-extraordinary, to St Petersburg, stopping on the way at Copenhagen. In the opinion of Patrick Woodland, the author of his biography in the ODNB (2004), "His intelligent and discriminating diary of this expedition offers important first-hand descriptions of both capitals at this date".


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