James Henry Dixon

Beneficiary with his brothers Robert William Dixon and Edward Dixon (d. 1834) under the will of Robert Henry McDonald (q.v.), the mortgagee of the Clermont estate in Jamaica.

James Henry Dixon, born Beeson, Yorkshire about 1803, died Pension Mansfield, Lausanne, Switzerland, 26 Oct 1876. Son of Samuel Dixon (1772-1842) and Mary Julian Wessells (1775-1870). His siblings were Robert William Dixon (1805-1876), Edward Dixon (c.1812-1834) and Ann Elizabeth Dixon (1816-c.1883). He married on 1 Oct 1829 at St. Cuthbert, Lytham, Lancashire, to Margaret Taylor (1804-1882), daughter of Anthony Taylor of York. Their son was Samuel Taylor Dixon (1831–1895) born in Islington. Samuel's non-conformist birth certificate lists James Henry Dixon as a solicitor. Their daughter Margaret Ianthe Dixon (1833–????) was born in Canonbury.

1. Probably but not certainly the 'songhunter' James Henry Dixon, collector of, and writer on, folk songs and poetry, including the Memoir of James Brown. The entry for James Henry Dixon in E. David Gregory's Victorian Songhunters: the Recovery and Editing of English Vernacular Ballads and Folk Lyrics, 1820-1883 gives life-dates of 1803-1876 and describes him as a lawyer who had articled in Durham and moved from the north-east to Hornsey in the 1840s.

2. James Henry Dixon was articled on 10 November 1820 as clerk to John Ward of Kings Bench Westminster, a solicitor.

3. On 30 Mar 1851, James Henry Dixon was listed as a landed proprietor living with "Margaret, wife, Samuel, son 19, a merchants clerk, and Ianthe daughter 16" at The Villa, Tollington Park, Islington.

We are grateful to John Hinshelwood for his assistance in compiling this entry.

1. E. David Gregory, Victorian Songhunters: the Recovery and Editing of English Vernacular Ballads and Folk Lyrics, 1820-1883. Scarecrow Press, 2006.

2. The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Court of King's Bench: Plea Side: Affidavits of Due Execution of Articles of Clerkship, Series II; Class: KB 106; Piece: 4.

3. FindMyPast.co.uk. 1851 England, Wales & Scotland Census, H.O. 107/1501.