After leaving school, Dawes joined the
Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). From 1854 to 1856 during the
Crimean War, he was
stationed in
Crimea with the company assisting with the
war effort, and rose to the
rank of
chief officer. From 1856 to 1865, he worked in India and China. Described as
East India merchants, shipowners, and
insurance agents, Dawes took over the leadership of Gray, Dawes, and Co on the death of Gray, and under his
stewardship the firm grew to become one of the leading agency businesses in London. He established branches of the firm in the
Persian Gulf at
Bushehr (1866), and at
Zanzibar (1873). From 1880, he extended his business interests into Australia and New Zealand, becoming chairman of
Australasian United Steam Navigation Company, and the leading shipping firm of J. B. Westray & Co, New Zealand, and by 1900 had numerous
directorships, including in
British India Steam Navigation Company,
Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway,
Queensland National Bank, and
Suez Canal Company. In 1894, he was
knighted for "services in connection with the
Colony of Queensland, and in developing
steam communication between England and certain of
Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions". == Personal life and death ==