(1745 - 1828) of Kirtlington Park, Oxon, 1st surv. s. of Sir James Dashwood, 2nd Bt.; BNC Oxf. 1763; suc. fa. 1779 as 3rd Bt.; m. 1780 Helen Graham; MP 1775 - 80, 1784 - 1820.
1768 [Vienna, Jan.] Naples (by 9 May), Rome (by 24 Jun. - 19 Aug.), Florence (by 21 Oct.)
1779 - 80 Venice (by 8 Jan. 1779), Naples (Mar. 1780)
Henry Watkin Dashwood with his tutor Mr Delon, described as a Dutchman, were in Vienna in January 1768.1 On 9 May they were listed in Naples,2 and on 24 June Dashwood wrote to William Hamilton from Rome thanking him for his kindness to himself and Delon during their stay in Naples.3 They were about to leave Rome on 19 August.4 Dashwood had sat to Batoni (Clark/Bowron 318; priv. coll. USA), and they were in Florence for the celebrations in honour of Horace Mann's investiture as Knight of the Bath and of the visit of the Queen of Naples, in October 1768.5
Little is known of his second visit, made at a time when he was in financial difficulties at home.6 He dined with Henry Bankes and the British resident John Strange in Venice on 8 January 1779.7 On 28 March 1780 Bankes told Strange that Dashwood was proposing to return home in the autumn and was meanwhile in Naples; 'I hope', he added, 'the fortune his father has left him will make him to settle his affairs in some tolerable manner'.
1. SP 105/319, f.11 (Langlois, 11 Jan. 1768). 2. SP 93/24 (Hamilton, 9 May 1768). 3. Add.41197, f.55. 4. Forbes MSS (Mrs Forbes, 9 Aug. 1768). 5. Wal.Corr., 23:60. 6. Commons 2, 2:304. 7. Bankes MSS (Bankes, 8 Jan. 1779).