Except twelve lessons from W. H. Pyne [q. v.] in 1838, Dawson had never received any instruction in art, but while at Liverpool he studied the figure at the Academy, and from Dr. Rowland, who with his wife were lifelong friends, he learnt something of the chemistry of colours. At Nottingham also he was able to indulge his love for music; he played the violin and managed to found a musical society, which flourished long after he left the north. In 1847 he competed for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament, and sent to Westminster Hall a picture of Charles raising his standard at Nottingham (58 inches by 94 inches). This work, sold to Richardson for forty guineas, fetched 480l. in 1875. Two more children, Hannah and William, were born to him at Liverpool, and his income being still very small, he determined to move nearer London, and took a house at Croydon, where he arrived in January 1850. Here his fortune improved little at first. A large picture sent to the Academy, ‘Sherwood Forest with Cattle,’ one of the finest he ever painted, was skied, to his great disappointment, and though Mr. Padley bought it for 50l., his resources were so reduced by the end of the year that he seriously thought of taking a small-ware shop to increase his income. Before doing so he resolved to consult Mr. Ruskin, who praised his colour, recommended him to study drawing, and encouraged him to follow his profession. Some of Dawson's best pictures, ‘The Rainbow,’ ‘The Rainbow at Sea,’ ‘The “Pool” below London Bridge’ (the first of two pictures of that subject), ‘London at Sunrise,’ ‘Crome Hurst,’ and ‘The Wooden Walls of Old England,’ were painted at Croydon. The last picture, sold in 1853 for 75l., brought 1,400l. at a sale at Christie's in 1876.
The following extract from his diary in 1850 well shows the scale of his income and his expenditure, and also the temper with which he engaged in the struggle of life: ‘June 8.—This day had more money in my possession than ever I had at one time of my own, namely, 148l. This will enable me, with God's blessing, to stand a twelve months' siege, if I should not sell another picture, and all this good fortune notwithstanding my apparent ill-luck at the Academy. Surely goodness and mercy hath followed me all my days. O God, make me more thankful for these great benefits.’
It was long before he gained any reputation in the south of England. Though well treated at the British Institution his pictures were, with one exception, invariably ill-hung at the Royal Academy, and almost to the last it was the residents of Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, and Nottingham, and not those of London, who bought his pictures. From Croydon Dawson moved to Thorpe, near Chertsey, where he purchased a small house and painted ‘The Houses of Parliament’ and other fine works. After some seven or eight years at Thorpe, he moved to The Grove, Camberwell, for a short time, but his house being required to make room for the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, he removed to ‘The Cedars,’ Chiswick, where he remained till his death. Though his reputation was rising gradually in the north, his income was never a large one, and the closing of the British Institution in 1867 had a serious effect upon it. For some years afterwards he did not earn his expenses. Among the academicians almost the only ones who recognised his merit were John Phillip and Thomas Creswick. The former proposed, the latter seconded, his name for election as associate. When the day of election came Phillip was dead, Creswick ill and absent, and the only vote recorded in Dawson's favour was that of Richard Ansdell.
At the end of 1871 Dawson had a long and severe illness, which threatened to terminate his career as a painter, and it was just about this time that his works began to rise rapidly in value. Pictures sold originally for 30l. fetched 300l. and 400l., and one, the first price of which was 40l., fetched no less than 650l. In 1874 he sold two pictures (‘Greenwich Hospital,’ painted 1867, and ‘London from Greenwich Hill,’ painted 1869) for 1,750l., and this sale enabled him to purchase ‘The Cedars.’ Commissions at high prices flowed in, and a short period of real prosperity commenced. It was, however, very short, for he died in December 1878. Dawson would probably have never enjoyed even this short period of success if it had not been for the exertions of a friend who for many years had been a strong believer in his genius, and had used his considerable influence to spread Dawson's reputation. This was Mr. James Orrock, R.I., who when resident at Nottingham had seen and admired Dawson's pictures in the house of Mr. Wild, the lock-keeper before mentioned. In 1857 he commenced to purchase ‘Dawsons’ and to recommend others to do so, and when he came to London he formed a friendship with the artist which lasted till the latter's death. It was through Mr. Orrock that Dawson obtained the first high prices for his unsold pictures and received his most important commissions.
Only a few months before his death Dawson's reputation was greatly extended by a collection at the Nottingham Exhibition of
