Cremorne, Philadelphia Hannah Freame Dawson, Viscountess

Biography

Philadelphia Hannah Freame was the daughter of Thomas Freame and Margaretta Penn, fourth daughter of William Penn [1644-1718], the founder of Pennsylvania. In 1770 she married the widowed Thomas Dawson [1725-1813], who in that same year was elevated to the Irish peerage, as Baron Dartry of Dawson's Grove. Dawson was the son of Dublin banker Richard Dawson and his wife Elizabeth Vesey Dawson. From 1749-1768 Thomas Dawson served an a member of Parliament for County Managhan [Ireland]. He was married firstly in 1754 to Lady Anne Fremor, daughter of the first Earl of Pomfret, with whom he had a son and a daughter. Dawson and his second wife had a son and daughter as well. In 1795 he was made Viscount Cremorne, and in 1797 he became Baron Cremorne of Castle Dawson. Dawson was a patron of the arts and a collector of paintings. Gilbert Stuart painted his portrait, as well as that of the Viscountess, and he was included on Stuarts' 1895 list of those patrons who were to receive copies of the artist's portrait of George Washington (although it is unknown whether he actually received one). Viscount Cremorne displayed his collection, which also included works by American artists Copley and West, at his London residence along the Thames, Cremorne House. [Compiled from sources and references recorded in CMS]

Bibliography

1982

Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families from the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine. 3 vols. Baltimore, 1982: 2:564-565.

1995

Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 17

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