John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington

John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington PC (Ire) (23 August 1744 – 30 November 1798) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer.

Early life Dawson was born on 23 August 1744 in Northamptonshire, England. He was the only surviving son of William Dawson, 1st Viscount Carlow and Mary Damer.

His paternal grandparents were Ephraim Dawson, an MP for Portarlington and Queen's County in the Irish House of Commons who was a successful banker who acquired an estate at Portarlington, County Laois, and the former Anne Preston (daughter of Samuel Preston). His maternal grandfather was Joseph Damer and his uncle was Joseph Damer, 1st Earl of Dorchester.

Career Between 1766 and 1768 he was a Member of Parliament for Portarlington in the Irish House of Commons. In 1768 he was elected to represent Queen's County. He resigned his seat in the Commons upon succeeding to his father's peerage in 1779 and assumed his seat in the Irish House of Lords. On 21 June 1785, Dawson was created Earl of Portarlington in the Peerage of Ireland. Between 1779 and his death he was Governor of Queen's County. and soon turning it into a well-regarded regiment. In 1796 he was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.

John Dawson, 2nd Earl of Portarlington (1781–1845), who had no issue and died unmarried. son of Davies Davenport, in 1829. who married Lady Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane, second daughter of Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.