[2] Dowdeswell was returned unopposed for Tewkesbury as a Whig at the 1690 English general election and helped prepare the bill relating to the rights of borough corporations.
In this respect, with his father-in-law, Sir Francis Winnington, be initiated a petition, by May 1693, for a new charter for Tewkesbury.
He signed the Association and voted, in March, to fix the price of guineas at 22 shillings.
He voted for the attainder of Sir John Fenwick on 25 November 1696, and acted as a teller on several occasions.
By 1702 he was deputy lieutenant for Worcestershire and was returned again for Tewkesbury at the 1702 English general election.