John Charlesworth Dodgson-Charlesworth

Political career Charlesworth was adopted as the Conservative candidate for Wakefield for the 1857 general election and in the absence of any other candidate, he was elected unopposed.

1859 general election and subsequent corruption inquiry At the 1859 he was re-adopted as the Conservative candidate but was on this occasion opposed by a Liberal candidate, William Henry Leatham. The polling was very close and when the result was announced Leatham won by three votes, 406 to 403. Following Leatham's victory, supporters of Charlesworth petitioned Parliament for the election to be declared void. Parliament's General Committee on Elections reported on 27 July that the election was void and that Leatham was, via his agents, guilty of bribery. The committee also resolved "That there is reason to believe that corrupt practices have extensively prevailed at the last election for the Borough of Wakefield". As a result of this finding a Commission was established to look into the alleged corruption. The Commission sat for three weeks between October and December 1859 and found that not only had Leatham conducted bribery on a large scale but so had Charlesworth. Between them, the two candidates bribed 142 of the 866 electors of the borough. No criminal proceedings followed but it ended Charlesworth's political career and the borough of Wakefield did not elect another MP until 1862.

Later life On 14 April 1847 at St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street, he married Sarah, daughter of Walker Featherstonhaugh. They had two sons, John Edward (born 1848) and Albany Hawke (1854–1914) and three daughters, Gertrude (born 1842), Catherine Sarah (born 1849) and Bertha Stobart (born 1851).

On the death of his father, Charlesworth inherited Chapelthorpe Hall and continued to live there, managing his colliery business until his death in 1880.