RAWDON, Hon. George (1761-1800).

Rawdon, an impecunious younger brother of Lord Moira, the Prince of Wales’s friend, was encouraged by the latter to offer himself as a ‘third man’ at Lincoln in 1790, with the support of the London out-voters. He was, however, outwitted by his opponents. In January 1795 he was also defeated at Launceston, where he was the Duke of Northumberland’s nominee. Just before the dissolution in 1796 a vacancy arose at Lincoln on the expulsion of John Fenton Cawthorne, and Rawdon came in unopposed then and at the ensuing general election.Prince of Wales Corresp. iii. 1262, 1270, 1348; iv. 1457; see LINCOLN. He gave a silent support to opposition, voting against the imperial loan, 14 Dec. 1796, and on the orders in council, 28 Feb., 1 Mar. 1797. He was a defaulter, 3 Apr., but voted for Grey’s parliamentary reform motion, 26 May 1797, against assessed taxes, 14 Dec.,A further vote against the assessed taxes, 4 Jan. 1798 was contradicted by the Morning Chron. 8 Jan., which next day listed him absent and ‘supposed adverse’ to the measure. and for inquiry into the state of Ireland, 14 and 22 June 1798. No further minority votes are known, but he joined the Whig Club on 5 June 1798.

He died 25 Apr. 1800, ‘of a violent putrid fever’:Gent. Mag. (1800), i. 393. his future return for Lincoln had already been rendered questionable by his neglect. Upon his death Lord Moira gave up the connexion.