George Dodington (died 1720)

George Dodington (c. 1662 – 28 March 1720) of Eastbury Park, Dorset was a merchant, office holder and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1705 to 1720, under the patronage of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford.

His grandfather Sir Francis Dodington had been granted in trust the profits of a commissionership of appeals in excise which fell to his son.

Also, by 1687 he had started to undertake occasional work for the Treasurer of the Navy - and was finally in the service of Admiral Edward Russell.

[1] In the late 1690s, Dodington became a target of Lord Orford's enemies who smeared him with financial impropriety in his offices, as an indirect attack on his patron.

Although he could argue in his own defence and was supported by the Whigs, he lost his offices as paymaster and trustee for exchequer bills, and spent five years sorting out Orford's accounts.