DAWSON, WILLIAM, 1773-1841.
Collection, 1819-1824, n.d.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 317

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CITATION:  William Dawson collection, MSS 317, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.  

William Dawson, preacher, was born on 30 March 1773 near Leeds. His father, Luke, served as colliery steward for Sir Thomas Gascoigne of Gawthorpe for 21 years. After his father died in 1791, William succeeded him in the position. After hearing prominent ministers at the Leeds conference in 1793, Dawson became a Wesleyan and was accredited as a local preacher. He was a skilled and popular orator, but declined an invitation to become an itinerant minister because his family depended on his income as colliery steward. In 1837 Dawson retired from his steward position and made several preaching tours. He died on 4 July 1841.

(Source of biography: W. B. Lowther, ‘Dawson, William (1773-1841)’, rev. Tim Macquiban, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7357, accessed 16 June 2005])

This collection consists of two letters written by William Dawson and a silhouette portrait of him by an unknown artist. The first letter is dated 15 February 1819 and is addressed to a Mr. Everett. The second is dated 26 May 1824 and is addressed to P. Phillips at Mr. Brown’s in Ripon. In it, Dawson declines an invitation to preach because his responsibilities as colliery steward make it difficult for him to leave home.

CONTAINER LISTING

Folder      Description                              Dates

1	    Letter from Dawson to Mr. Everett	     1819
	    Letter from Dawson to P. Phillips	     1824		
	    Silhouette portrait of Dawson	     n.d.