Bully Dawson

Bully Dawson was a notorious gambler from London, England, in the time of Charles II. His name became a byword for a swaggering fool. His character is summed up by Charles Lamb: "Bully Dawson kicked by half the town, and half the town kicked by Bully Dawson".

He is said to have come from either Blackfriars and little is known of him other than he was a gambler and "sharper". He may have been a punch brewer. Some idea of his reputation can be gleaned from the various works of literature that mention him. In Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, Hardcastle refers to him in Act 3: "And can you be serious? I never saw such a bouncing, swaggering puppy since I was born. Bully Dawson was but a fool to him."

He appears in one of Joe Miller's Jests:

He is reputed to be the model for Captain Hackhum in Thomas Shadwell's The Squire of Alsatia.