James Dawkins the elder

Birth year approximate. 2nd son of Col. Richard Dawkins of Clarendon, Jamaica and his 2nd wife, Elizabeth Masters. (Richard Dawkins one of the first white English settlers in Jamaica.) James Dawkins bought Over Norton, Oxfordshire, 1726. Spent £1,000 or more on the Oxford election of 1734 but withdrew before the poll. Subsequently returned unopposed for New Woodstock in 1734 and remained as MP there in the interest of the Duchess of Marlborough until he was ejected by her successor, the 3rd Duke of Marlborough who was a government supporter. Dawkins had been opposed to the government. Thought to be a Jacobite sympathiser. On his death (unmarried), left Over Norton to his nephew, Henry Dawkins MP.

James Dawkins was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 12862 acres of land in Clarendon and 1432 acres of land in Vere, total 14294 acres.

Dawkins and Cunningham were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 500 acres of land in St Elizabeth. This may refer to James Dawkins, James Dawkins the younger or Henry Dawkins II. The Cunningham may be James Cunningham of Chesterfield or perhaps one of the Cunninghames of Grandvale.

'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.