View source for Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet

{{Short description|Archbishop of York from 1714 to 1724}}
{{Other people|William Dawes}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = [[The Most Reverend]] and [[The Right Honourable|Right Honourable]]
| name = Sir William Dawes
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominal styles|country=GBR|Bt|size=100%}}
| image = Sir-William-Dawes-3rd-Bt.jpg
| title = [[Archbishop of York]]
| province = [[Province of York|York]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of York|York]]
| elected = 
| term = 1714–1724
| enthroned = 
| predecessor = [[John Sharp (bishop)|John Sharp]]
| successor = [[Lancelot Blackburne]]
| other_post = Dean of Bocking (1698–1708)<br />[[Bishop of Chester]] (1708–1714)
<!---------- Orders ---------->| consecration = 1708
<!---------- Personal details ---------->| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1671|9|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Great Leighs]], [[Essex]], [[Kingdom of England|England]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1724|4|30|1671|9|12|df=y}}
| death_place = [[City and Liberty of Westminster|Westminster]], [[Middlesex]], [[England]]
| buried = Chapel, [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge|St Catharine's Hall, Cambridge]]
| nationality = [[English people|English]] (later [[British people|British]])
| religion = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
| residence = 
| parents = Sir John Dawes<br />Christian ''née'' Lyons
| spouse = {{marriage|Frances D'Arcy|1692|1705|end=d}}
| children = 5 sons & 2 daughters<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=7336|title=Dawes, Sir William}}</ref>
| alma_mater = [[St John's College, Oxford]]<br />[[St Catharine's College, Cambridge|St Catharine's Hall, Cambridge]]
}}
[[File:Dawes Escutcheon.png|thumb|Arms: Argent on a bend Azure cotised Gules between six battle axes Sable three swans Or.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/bishops/ |publisher=Cheshire Heraldry Society |accessdate=9 February 2021 |title=The Armorial Bearings of the Bishops of Chester}}</ref>]]

'''Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet''' (12 September 1671 – 30 April 1724) was an English [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] prelate who served as [[Bishop of Chester]] from 1708 to 1714 and then as [[Archbishop of York]] from 1714 to 1724. Politically he was a [[Hanoverian Tory]], who favoured the [[Hanoverian Succession]].

==Education==
Dawes was born at Lyons, near [[Braintree, Essex|Braintree]] in Essex and from the age of nine attended [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School]] in London. Already excelling in Hebrew by the age of 15, he was barely 18 when he wrote his work in verse: ''The Anatomy of Atheisme'', and his eminent ''The Duties of the Closet'' in prose.

In 1687, William matriculated at [[St John's College, Oxford]],<ref>[http://www.nicholashedges.co.uk/places/st_johns_college/evidence.htm]{{dead link|date=February 2017}}</ref> of which college he also became a fellow, then migrated to [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge|St Catharine's Hall, Cambridge]] in 1689. He graduated [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] (MA Cantab) from St Catharine's in 1695, on royal decree (''[[per lit. reg.]]'') due to his young age; in 1696 he graduated in theology of [[Doctor of Divinity]] (DD).<ref>{{acad|id=DWS695W|name=Dawes, William}}</ref>

==Anglican priest==
William Dawes became the permanent pastor of [[William III of England|William III]] (1688–1702) and was later court pastor of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] (1702–14). From 1698, at a young age, he was Canon of [[Worcester Cathedral]].

He was Master of [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge|St Catharine's Hall, Cambridge]] between 1697 and 1714<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridgeonline.co.uk/articles/St_Catharines_College/|title=St Catharine's College|publisher=Cambridge Online|access-date=20 February 2017}}</ref> and [[List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge|Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge]], 1698–9.

In 1698 he was appointed rector in the village of [[Bocking, Essex|Bocking]] (where the rector is called Dean of Bocking) near to his estates in Essex. Here he introduced the innovative custom of taking [[Holy Communion]] not only on the three great feasts, but once every month.

On 8 February 1708<ref name="ODNB" /> he was consecrated [[Bishop of Chester]]: this was at the personal wish of Queen Anne, who overruled the advice of her ministers in appointing him. He was [[Archbishop of York]] from 1714 until his death in 1724<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1092 |title=The Archbishop of Canterbury |website=www.archbishopofcanterbury.org |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611172035/http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1092 |archive-date=11 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and a [[Privy Counsellor]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=5264 |date=28 September 1714 |page=1 }}</ref> He owed his advancement to the goodwill of the Queen and of his predecessor, [[John Sharp (bishop)|John Sharp]], who had great regard for him, and had great influence with the Queen: it was Sharp's dying request that Dawes succeed him at York, which the Queen happily granted. He restored the Archbishop's palace in York, the [[Bishopthorpe]].

He died on 30 April 1724 from inflammation of the bowels. He was buried in the chapel of St Catharine's together with his wife. He was the most outstanding preacher of his period, a representative of the ideal of an aristocratic prelate, of a high and authoritative personality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ppf.mtak.hu/en/116a.htm|title=Pápai Páriz Ferenc, Album amicorum p. 468|website=ppf.mtak.hu|access-date=20 February 2017}}</ref>

==Family==
William Dawes was the son of [[Sir John Dawes, 1st Baronet|John Dawes, 1st Baronet]] of Putney and Jane (Christian) Hawkins the Daughter of Richard Hawkins of Bocking near Braintree Essex. According to [[Samuel Pepys]], his parents' marriage gave rise to a good deal of gossip. His orphaned mother was an heiress, aged only sixteen, and it was claimed that her husband married her without her guardian's consent.<ref>A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies ... by John Burke</ref> After his father's death his mother remarried the noted shipbuilder Sir [[Anthony Deane (mayor)|Anthony Deane]], by whom she had eight more children.

William married Frances Cole d'Arcy (1673–1705; daughter of [[Sir Thomas d'Arcy|Thomas d'Arcy]] {1632–1693} and Jane Cole {1640–?}) on 1 December 1692, at [[St Edmund, King and Martyr|St Edmund King and Martyr, Lombard St]], [[City of London]].

Their daughter Elizabeth married [[Sir William Milner, 1st Baronet|William Milner]] (?−1745), 1st Baronet of [[Nun Appleton]] Hall, MP for York in the early 18th century.

==Styles and titles==
*1690–1695: [[Baronet|Sir]] William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}
*1695–1696: ''[[The Reverend]]'' Sir William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}
*1696–1698: ''The Reverend'' [[Doctor of Divinity|Doctor]] Sir William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}
*1698: ''The Reverend'' [[Residentiary canon|Canon]] Doctor Sir William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}
*1698–1708: ''The [[Very Reverend]]'' Doctor Sir William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}
*1708–1714: ''The [[Right Reverend]]'' Doctor Sir William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}
*1714–1724: ''The [[Most Reverend]] and [[Privy Council of Great Britain|Right Honourable]]'' Doctor Sir William Dawes {{post-nominals||Bt}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

* Stuart Handley, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7336 Dawes, Sir William, third baronet (1671–1724)], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004
* {{Rayment-bt|date=March 2012}}
* ''The whole works of ... Sir William Dawes, in 3 volumes, with a preface, giving some account of the life ... of the author.'' London, 1732, 1733.

===Attribution===
{{DNB|wstitle=Dawes, William (1671-1724)|volume=14|last=Overton|first=John Henry|author-link=John Henry Overton|ref=none}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Nicholas Stratford]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Chester]]|years=1708–1714}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Francis Gastrell]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[John Sharp (bishop)|John Sharp]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of York]]|years=1714–1724}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Lancelot Blackburne]]}}
{{S-aca}}
{{S-bef|before=[[John Eachard]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge|Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]|years=1697–1714}}
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{{S-reg|en-bt}}
{{S-bef|before=Robert Dawes}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Dawes baronets|Baronet]]'''<br />(of Putney)'''|years=1690–1724}}
{{S-aft|after=Darcy Dawes}}
{{S-end}}
{{Bishops of Chester}}
{{Archbishops of York}}
{{Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, William}}
[[Category:1671 births]]
[[Category:1724 deaths]]
[[Category:Archbishops of York]]
[[Category:Bishops of Chester]]
[[Category:18th-century Anglican archbishops]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of England]]
[[Category:Doctors of Divinity]]
[[Category:Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Deans of Bocking]]
[[Category:People from Braintree District]]
[[Category:18th-century Church of England bishops]]
[[Category:17th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:18th-century Anglican theologians]]