(1686 - 1740), e. s. of 2nd Vct. Downe [I] of Cowick Hall, Yorks.; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1703; MP 1713 - 16; m. 1724 Charlotte Louisa Pleydell.
1709 Padua (2 Oct.)
1711 Rome (Mar. - 17 Apr.), Naples (17 Apr. - 11 May), Rome (mid-May - 16 Jul.), Leghorn, Florence ( - 11 Sep.), Bologna (12 Sep.), Ferrara (14 Sep.), Genoa (27 Sep. - 3 Oct.), Turin
On 2 October 1709 John Dawnay was in Padua with Lord Longueville1 who arrived in Venice on 20 December 1709.2
He was next in Rome in March 1711 with Lord Cornbury, Thomas Hobart and William Leigh. Their paths frequently coincided with those of John Bellings and the Waters jnl.MSS describes much of their itinerary. They stayed in Naples from 17 April until leaving for Rome on 11 May; they left Rome on 16 July, going 'towards Leghorn' and they left Florence on 11 September, arriving in Bologna the next day. On 14 September they reached Ferrara, where they encountered Bellings for the last time.
They stayed a few days at Genoa before heading for Turin and the Alps, hoping to cross before the snow hindered their progress.3 Charles Baldwyn met them in Turin, recording that Lord Cornbury and Leigh 'went to Geneva on Monday, and Mr Dawney on Thursday.'4
In 1731 Dawnay was described as a 'Jacobite', who would 'not suffer the King to be prayed for in his family prayers.'5
1. Brown 1333. 2. SP 99/58, f.56 (Broughton, 20 Dec. 1709). 3. SP 79/6 (Henshawe, 27 Sep., 4 Oct. 1711). 4. Baldwyn Letters, 363 - 4. 5. HMC Egmont Diary, 1:191 - 2.