Background

Author: Nev. Ramsden

The Dixon Families of Whitehaven- Merchants

The main problem when researching the Dixon family in West Cumberland is that there are too many of them and many were supporters of the dissenting religions! That applies to the Whitehaven families as to those from elsewhere in this area. In 1672 the house of Isabella Dixon was licensed as a Presbyterian meeting house in Whitehaven. You can find men involved in all the usual occupations to be found in a seaport but the majority includes mariners, coopers and merchants.

The Dixons start to appear in the St.Bees register in the 1640’s in common with many other incoming families and some probably originated from Low-hall in Hensingham parish. The following Dixons can be identified as merchants in Whitehaven, by using the parish registers, wills and the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper as source material. The year when merchant status was first noted is shown in brackets Joshua 1705, Matthew 1720, Nathaniel 1725, John 1758, Isaac 1782, Peter 1788, Henry 1796, John 1801 and John 1804 (in London & Rotterdam)

Memorial – St.James Church In Memory of John Dixon esqr. who died on the 26th of May 1801, aged 71 years and six of their children who died in Infancy Henry Dixon, their Son who died on the 27th of June, 1796, aged 27 years. George Dixon, their Son, who died, in London, on the 29th of October,1803. aged 29 years Joseph Dixon, their Son, who died on the 26th of January, 1815, aged 50 years Frances, relict of John Dixon esqr. who died on the 24th of July 1817, aged 79 years

John, son of John & Isabella Dixon ob Sept 28th 1819, aged 56 Susannah his widow, ob Feb 21st, 1820, aged 46. Mary, their daughter ob May 17th, 1838, aged 78. Catherine, Relict of Henry, their Son, ob Feb 1st, 1843 aged 76. Isabella, their Daughter, relict of James Murray Esqr. of London, ob May 10th 1853, aged 79.

Joshua Dixon merchant of Whitehaven [1669 to 1705] In his Will, 14 Nov.1705 he mentions his wife Ellenor, his mother Ribton, his brother Nathaniel Dixon, his nephew Joshua Hutchinson, his brother James Stanger?, his brother and sister Hutchinson; he had shares in five ships; his estate was valued at £822 with debts of £302. Henry Dixon merchant of Whitehaven [1768-1796] states in his Will dated 15 July 1794 that he was one third concerned in the co-ownership of Henry Dixon & Co. at Whitehaven with Isaac Eccleston at Antigua. He went on to say that I have reason to think that I may at least have one thousand pounds to devise. He went on to appoint his friends William Shervington and Thomas Hartley with his brother Joseph Dixon to settle the affairs of Henry Dixon & Co.; They all refused to be so appointed. This Will was first valued at £1,200.

Nathaniel Dixon [c1665 to1742]. In his Will he mentions his son Joshua Dixon, his wife Mary Dixon, his daughters Elizabeth & Mary Dixon, his son Edward Dixon, his daughter Sarah Dixon, his grandson Edward Deuten & his granddaughter Mary Simpson; also perhaps daughter Margaret Dixon ?

I think that some researchers have confused these two Joshua Dixon’s 1. Joshua DIXON, M.D. (1744-1825), biographer, an Englishman by birth, took the degree of M.D. in the university of Edinburgh in 1768, on which occasion he read an inaugural dissertation, 'De Febre Nervosa.' He was born in and practised his profession at Whitehaven, where he died on 7 Jan. 1825 (aged 80 years). He wrote several useful tracts and essays, acknowledged and anonymous, but his chief work is 'The Literary Life of William Brownrigg, M.D., F.R.S. [of Whitehaven], to which are added an account of the Coal Mines near Whitehaven: and observations on the means of preventing Epidemic Fevers,' Whitehaven, 1801. Joshuas' parents were Joshua & Elizabeth (Bigland) and Joshua was a mariner. See - Gentlemans Mag. 1825, i. 185; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors (1816), 96. 2. Joshua Dixon was a merchant and art collector who bequeathed his collection of pictures to the Bethnal Green Museum in 1886 for the benefit of East Londoners. Joshua Dixon was born in London on 18 November 1810, the eldest son of Abraham Dixon, a merchant and inventor in the woollen textile industry, of Whitehaven, Cumberland, and Letitia, daughter of John Taylor, of Gomersal, Yorkshire. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and made his fortune as a cotton merchant in New Orleans and Liverpool. From 1869-70 he served as deputy chairman of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company. His collection of pictures and objects d’art filled Winslade Park, near Exeter, the house that he had purchased on his retirement. Dixon served as a justice of the peace for Devon and, in 1882, joined the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art. He died on 7 December 1885. Dixon bequeathed his collection of 295 oil paintings, watercolour drawings, bronzes and statuary to the Bethnal Green branch of the South Kensington Museum in 1886 for ‘the use of the public of East London’. Taken from an article easily found on the Web – & I am not convinced as to its accuracy