Henry Dashwood Senior is the deceased nephew and heir of Uncle Dashwood, the husband of two women: an unnamed first wife, from whom he has a son, John Dashwood, and grandson, Henry "Harry" Dashwood; and Mrs. Dashwood, from whom he has daughters Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret Dashwood.
The narrator tells us that Henry Dashwood had ￡7,000 at his disposal without the Norland estate. We also know that the first Mrs. Dashwood had a fortune “which had been large,” but that the second one “had nothing,” meaning that her daughters had little inheritance outside of Norland.
About eleven years before his death, his uncle invited him to bring his family to come at live at Norland Park, the estate he would one day inherit. At this time, his youngest child was Margaret, who would have been about 2 years old.
Prior to this time, he appears to have been living at a place called Stanhill. Though never hear what became of the estate, Fanny Dashwood says at one point that “When [John’s] father and mother moved to Norland, though the furniture of Stanhill was sold, all the china, plate, and linen was saved, and is now left to [Mrs. Dashwood].”
When Henry’s uncle dies, he discovers that the estate has been “left it to him on such terms as destroyed half the value of the bequest.” Though he had wished to divide up his inheritance more evenly among his children, his uncle set up the entail so that young Henry Dashwood would inherit it in whole, depriving Henry Dashwood senior of the power to provide for his daughters “by any charge on the estate, or by any sale of its valuable woods.”
Despite initial disappointment, Henry determines he will lay aside money each year. However “He survived his uncle no longer; and ten thousand pounds, including the late legacies, was all that remained for his widow and daughters.” Henry does attempt to redress this by asking his son John to help the girls from his deathbed, but the request is of a casual nature and easily minimized by John and his wife Fanny.
Despite his critical narrative importance in the novel, the reader has very little information about the character of Henry Dashwood. The narrator does tell us that he did not fret about the entail of Norland Park because “his temper was cheerful and sanguine” and we know he made reasonable plans to help provide for his family.
Though the Dashwood girls never speak of their father, we are told that “Mrs. John Dashwood had never been a favourite with any of her husband's family,” suggesting that he was not, at least, as manipulative as Fanny. Given that his first marriage was to a wealthy woman and the second to a poor one, his emphasis on advancing himself socially may have waned over time.
