[1] He was the second son of Colonel Richard Dawkins of Clarendon, a plantation and slave owner[2] in Jamaica, member of the Assembly (died c. 1698/1701/1705,[3] of a Leicestershire family), and his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth Masters (d.
[4] He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on 28 March 1713, at age 16.
[1][5][6] Dawkins, of Rusley Park, Bishopstone, Wiltshire, bought land at Over Norton in Oxfordshire, the Busby estate.
[7] In the general election of 1734 he campaigned to become Member of Parliament for Oxford, but withdrew before the poll, despite having spent heavily.
His Over Norton Park estate went to Henry Dawkins, his nephew.