On 29 October 1828 he was ordained pastor at an Independent chapel in Burscough Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire,[4] formerly part of a silk factory.

[4] When, in 1843, the chapel got into financial difficulties due to the debt owing after its construction, Dawes came to their aid.

[4] Dawes made extensive measurements of double stars as well as observations of planets.

[5] He set up his private observatory at his home, Hopefield House, built 1856-7[6] in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.

In 1867, Richard Anthony Proctor made a map of Mars based on these drawings.