[1][2] He was the son of Martin Dunsford (1711–1763) who manufactured serge in Tiverton, Devon, having a large workshop created from a row of houses, and a workforce of over 50.
[5] Dunsford is described in Lewis Namier's The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III as the leader of a movement in Tiverton for extending the local franchise, at the end of the 18th century.
[6] Holding local political office as a Churchwarden, he opposed the Ryder family who controlled the parliamentary elections in the town.
[3] The political interests of Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby, and his ally Sir John Duntze, 1st Baronet, were not in fact threatened in any practical sense by the Dissenter faction led by Dunsford.
[10] The sources Dunsford used, besides his own research, included earlier work and collation by the antiquarians John Blundell, William Hewett and Thomas Westcott.