SHAWE, William Cunliffe (1745-1821), of Singleton Lodge, Lancs.

Shawe, whose father bought the Singleton property in 1748, was descended from an old Preston family. Between 1772 and 1785 he purchased or acquired mortgages on some of the neighbouring estates of Sir Henry Hoghton.VCH Lancs. vii. 52-53, 62, 83, 116, 184-5, 209. Returned unopposed for Preston by the 12th Earl of Derby on a vacancy in 1792, he followed Derby’s line in the House, but made no mark there. He was in the Foxite minority on the address, 13 Dec. 1792, and voted for Grey’s parliamentary reform motion, 7 May 1793. His only other recorded votes were for peace negotiations, 21 Jan., 30 May, 30 Dec. 1794 and 29 Oct. 1795, and against the imperial loan, 5 Feb. 1795. He is not known to have spoken in the House and in 1796 made way for Derby’s son.

Shawe sold Singleton around 1800 and later bought an estate at Kesgrave in Suffolk.W. A. Copinger, Suff. Manors, iii. 60. He died 4 Nov. 1821.