James Dashwood

Sir James Dashwood, 2nd Baronet (1715–1779) was an English politician.

He was the son of Robert Dashwood, and his grandfather from whom he inherited the baronetcy was Sir Robert Dashwood, 1st Baronet; his mother was Dorothy Reade, daughter of Sir James Reade, 2nd Baronet. He inherited large estates in Oxfordshire, being on a Grand Tour when he came into them in 1734, and built an imposing house at Kirtlington.

Kirklington Park was constructed in the years 1742 to 1746, by William Smith of Warwick and John Sanderson, starting from plans by James Gibbs; the grounds were laid out by Lancelot Brown. Dashwood also built up a significant library, and in 1747 was paying James Lovell, the sculptor and interior decorator. In 1931 the rococo dining room was exported, and it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Involved in it were Thomas Roberts (plasterwork), and either Henry Cheere or John Cheere (chimneypiece).

Brown was at work on Kirtlington Park from the end of 1751 to 1757. This was a second phase of work in which the old house, Northbrook House, was demolished in 1750, and previous garden work by Thomas Greening was altered.

Dashwood in local politics represented what was called the "old interest", and in national politics was a Jacobite, and someone prepared to work against Catholic disabilities. Scottish fir trees at Kirtington demonstrated his politics. He belonged to the Loyal Brotherhood, a Tory drinking club that also served as a London focus for party organisation, with other local MPs. At the time of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion he was one of a group of Oxfordshire Tories who refused to join the county association.

In 1749 the Earl of Egmont made a survey of MPs for the Prince of Wales, finding Dashwood a "strongly tainted" Jacobite. The Old Interest locally held drinking club sessions at which the Young Pretender was lauded, into the 1750s. At this period Tory political planning was low key, in meetings that resembled social events: one such dinner was held at Dashwood's house on 29 February 1756, at which voting rights were discussed. He was awarded an honorary D.C.L. by the University of Oxford, and the city made him High Steward.

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