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Dashwood, Sir Francis 1708-81
English courtier and profligate

He was an MP (1741-63), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1761-63), joint Postmaster-General (1770-81) and succeeded his uncle as 15th Baron Le Depencer in 1763. He earned notoriety as the founder (c.1755) of a secret society, the Knights of St Francis of Wycombe, better known as the Hellfire Club, and later known as the Mad Monks of Medmenham because of their obscene cavortings in the ruins of Medmenham Abbey. The members included John Wilkes and the 4th Earl of Sandwich.