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Lot Essay
Thomas Dawson, 1st Viscount Cremorne (1725-1813)
Thomas Dawson was the first surviving son of Richard Dawson (d.1766) of Dawson Grove and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. The 18th century wealth of the family was made by his father, the banker Alderman Richard Dawson (d.1766). Thomas, 1st Viscount Cremorne was able to pursue a long political career, acquire a number of titles and commission houses in Ireland and London. He was a patron of the architect James Wyatt and the artists Thomas Lawrence and Johann Zoffany. Dawson was M.P. co. Monaghan and was raised to the Irish House of Lords as Baron Dartrey of Dawson’s Grove in 1770 Viscount Cremorne in 1785. The death of his first wife must have greatly affected him as he commissioned James Wyatt (1746-1813) to raise a magnificent mausoleum in her memory. It enclosed a sculpture by Joseph Wilton (1722-1803).
Cremorne enlarged his Chelsea villa, Cremorne House employing James Wyatt and the landscape gardener and surveyor Nathaniel Richmond (1723-1784). It was here and at his Mayfair house that he was visited by King George III, Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales on numerous occasions. Lord Cremorne’s second wife, Philadelphia (1740-1826), daughter of Thomas Freame and grand-daughter of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Lord Uxbridge, who commissioned a set of four matching candelabra in 1792, possibly admired the original Cremorne pair at a dinner or soirée at Cremorne House. This could explain the entry for Lord Uxbridge’s candelabra in the silversmiths’ ledgers which describe them as being ‘like Cremornes’.
Thomas Dawson was the first surviving son of Richard Dawson (d.1766) of Dawson Grove and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. The 18th century wealth of the family was made by his father, the banker Alderman Richard Dawson (d.1766). Thomas, 1st Viscount Cremorne was able to pursue a long political career, acquire a number of titles and commission houses in Ireland and London. He was a patron of the architect James Wyatt and the artists Thomas Lawrence and Johann Zoffany. Dawson was M.P. co. Monaghan and was raised to the Irish House of Lords as Baron Dartrey of Dawson’s Grove in 1770 Viscount Cremorne in 1785. The death of his first wife must have greatly affected him as he commissioned James Wyatt (1746-1813) to raise a magnificent mausoleum in her memory. It enclosed a sculpture by Joseph Wilton (1722-1803).
Cremorne enlarged his Chelsea villa, Cremorne House employing James Wyatt and the landscape gardener and surveyor Nathaniel Richmond (1723-1784). It was here and at his Mayfair house that he was visited by King George III, Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales on numerous occasions. Lord Cremorne’s second wife, Philadelphia (1740-1826), daughter of Thomas Freame and grand-daughter of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Lord Uxbridge, who commissioned a set of four matching candelabra in 1792, possibly admired the original Cremorne pair at a dinner or soirée at Cremorne House. This could explain the entry for Lord Uxbridge’s candelabra in the silversmiths’ ledgers which describe them as being ‘like Cremornes’.