Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol II (1901).djvu/131

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Dawkins
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Dawkins

be made, placed matters in the hands of the admiral and general commanding. After taking the Bogue forts these commanders threatened the city of Canton, and at once brought the mandarins to reason. In conformity with Davis's demands the Chinese agreed that the city should be opened to foreigners in two years' time from that date (6 April 1847); that Englishmen should be at liberty to roam at pleasure in the neighbourhood, that a church should be erected, and that a site should be granted for building premises. But, though this action was crowned with success, the British government disapproved of the measures taken, and so keenly did Davis feel the censure that in 1848 he resigned his appointments. On his return to England he took up his residence at Hollywood Tower, near Bristol. He was created K.C.B. on 12 June 1854 and D.C.L. of Oxford University on 21 June 1876. During these years of leisure he kept up his interest in all matters relating to China, and founded a Chinese scholarship at Oxford. His portrait was painted and lithographed by W. Drummoud in his series of Athenæum Portraits, 1836.

Davis died at Hollywood on 13 Nov. 1890, at the age of ninety-six. He was twice married: first, in 1822, to Emily, daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Humfrays, who died in 1866, and, secondly, in 1867, to Lucy Ellen, daughter of the Rev. T. J. Rocke, who survives him. By his first wife he had a son, Sulivan Francis (1827–1862), and by his second wife a son, Francis Boileau, who succeeded to the baronetcy. He was the author of several works on China, of which the most important are: ‘Chinese Novels translated from the Originals,’ 1822; ‘The Fortunate Union,’ translated from the Chinese, 1829; ‘The Chinese: a General Description of China and its Inhabitants,’ London, 1836, 2 vols.; ‘Sketches of China,’ 1841, 2 vols.; ‘The Massacre of Benares,’ 1844; ‘Chinese Miscellanies,’ 1865.

[Vizier Ali Khan on the Massacre of Benares, 1844, by Sir J. F. Davis; Boulger's History of China, 1881; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886; Burke's Peerage, 1895; personal knowledge.]


DAWKINS, JAMES (1722–1757), archæologist and jacobite, born in Jamaica in 1722, was the eldest of four sons of Henry Dawkins of Jamaica, by Elizabeth, third daughter of Edward Pennant of Clarendon in Jamaica, chief justice of the island. He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, on 7 Dec. 1739, at the age of sixteen, and was made D.C.L. on 14 April 1749. After leaving the university he seems to have resided at Standlynch in Wiltshire. Enjoying great wealth, he spent his time chiefly in travelling in Italy and other places on the continent, and in 1748 was in Paris, where he made acquaintances among the jacobites. Subsequently he lived for a short period in Rome, and was one of those who assisted James Stuart (1713–1788) [q. v.] and Nicholas Revett [q. v.] in their project of taking practical measurements of remains of Greek architecture at Athens. In 1750 Dawkins arranged with John Bouverie to make a journey to the most remarkable places of antiquity on the coast of the Mediterranean, and Robert Wood [q. v.], who had already been to most of the places they intended to visit, was invited to join the party. Borra, an Italian artist, accompanied them as architect and draughtsman. Starting from Naples in the spring of 1751, they visited ‘most of the islands of the Archipelago, part of Greece in Europe, the Asiatic and European coasts of the Hellespont, Propontis, and Bosphorus, as far as the Black Sea, most of the inland parts of Asia Minor, Syria, Phœnicia, Palestine, and Egypt’ (Ruins of Palmyra), copying such inscriptions as they came upon, and carrying off marbles whenever it was possible. Bouverie died at Magnesia. The rest of the party left the ship at Beyrout, crossed Mount Lebanon to Damascus, proceeded to Hassia, set out thence on 11 March 1751 with an escort of Arab horsemen, and, advancing by way of Carietin, reached Palmyra on 14 March. The hiring of this escort was mentioned by Dr. Johnson as ‘the only great instance of the enjoyment of wealth’ (Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed. Birkbeck Hill, iv. 126). Leaving Palmyra on 27 March, they passed through Sudud and Cara, and arrived at Balbec on 1 April. The party returned to Athens about the beginning of May 1751. After an expedition to Thermopylæ with Wood and Stuart, Dawkins came back to England at the end of May. In 1752 Dawkins and Wood printed in London part of the ‘Proposals,’ first issued by Stuart and Revett in Rome in 1748, for publishing the ‘Antiquities of Athens.’ This work appeared in 1762, and Dawkins's assistance was acknowledged in most generous terms by Stuart in his preface. In 1753 Wood published his account of the ‘Ruins of Palmyra,’ and the ‘Ruins of Balbec’ followed in 1757; in the preparation of each of these works Dawkins gave valuable help.

In the meantime Dawkins had maintained his early interest in jacobite affairs. Apparently he rendered the cause pecuniary aid. Prince Charles, in a letter from Paris about 1751, mentions his want of money, and sends