John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington PC (Ire) (23 August 1744 – 30 November 1798) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer.
He was the only surviving son of William Dawson, 1st Viscount Carlow and Mary Damer.
[2] His paternal grandparents were Ephraim Dawson, an MP for Portarlington and Queen's County in the Irish House of Commons who was a successful banker that acquired an estate at Portarlington, County Laois, and the former Anne Preston (daughter of Samuel Preston).
[1] He raised the Queen's County Militia, being appointed its first Colonel on 23 April 1793[5] and soon turning it into a well-regarded regiment.
[3] As his eldest son died unmarried with no issue, the earldom passed to his grandson, Henry Dawson-Damer (1822–1889),[8] who married Lady Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane, second daughter of Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.