Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer

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Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Baronet. (1708 - 1781)

Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer (December, 1708 – December 11, 1781) was an English rake and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1762-1763) and founder of The Hellfire Club.

He was born in London, and educated at Eton College where he became associated with William Pitt the Elder. Orphaned at age 16, he went on a Grand Tour of Europe in 1726.

Shortly after his return to England, Dashwood founded the Hellfire Club. According to the 1779 book Nocturnal Revels, on the Grand Tour he had visited various religious seminaries, "founded, as it were, in direct contradiction to Nature and Reason; on his return to England, [he] thought that a burlesque Institution in the name of St Francis, would mark the absurdity of such Societies; and in lieu of the austerities and abstemiousness there practised, substitute convivial gaiety, unrestrained hilarity, and social felicity."

For his activities in the Hellfire Club he was in his day widely regarded as being involved in devil worship.

He was Postmaster General for a period, and during this time corresponded with Benjamin Franklin, his opposite number in the North American colonies. The two - feeling that church services were too long - produced an anonymous Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer in 1773.

He commissioned West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire. He served as an honorary vice president of London's charitable Foundling Hospital from 1777 until his death.

[edit] Fictional references

In The Illuminatus! Trilogy Dashwood is mentioned as one of the original five leaders of the Illuminati.

Dashwood's ghost appeared in the "Warped Notions" arc in the comic book Hellblazer and was later summoned and torn apart by John Constantine's children in the arc "Reasons to Be Cheerful".

Sir Francis Dashwood receives a name check from Vivian Stanshall at the end of side two of the original recording of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, as found in the "Mike Oldfield Boxed" collection (Virgin Records - CDBOX1)

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by Charles Townshend	Treasurer of the Chamber 1761–1762	Succeeded by Sir Gilbert Elliot
Preceded by The Viscount Barrington	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1762–1763	Succeeded by George Grenville
Honorary Titles
Preceded by The Earl Gower	Master of the Great Wardrobe 1763–1765	Succeeded by The Earl of Ashburnham
Preceded by The Earl Temple	Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1763–1781	Succeeded by The Earl of Chesterfield
Peerage of England
Preceded by John Fane (Abeyant 1762)	Baron le Despencer 1763–1781	Succeeded by Thomas Stapleton
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by Francis Dashwood	Baronet (of West Wycombe) 1724–1781	Succeeded by John Dashwood-King