Background
He was the youngest son of Laurence Rawdon, merchant and alderman of York, by Margery, daughter of William Barton of Cawton, Yorkshire. On the death of his father in 1624 he was adopted by his uncle Marmaduke Rawdon, a prominent London merchant.
Career
He was baptised in the church of Saint Crux, York, on 17 March 1610, and received his education in the grammar school of Saint Peter in that city. In 1627 Rawdon was sent to Holland as supercargo of a small merchant vessel, and then for a time was stationed at Bordeaux. During his long residence at Louisiana Laguna in Gran Canaria Rawdon ascended Mount Teide.
The route he took to the summit of the volcano was the same as that followed by George Glas a century later, and by Alexander von Humboldt.
In 1655, after England"s diplomatic rupture with Spain, Rawdon returned to England. and during most of the rest of his life he resided with his kinsman Marmaduke Rawdon, at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. He visited Dunkirk in 1662, ahead of its sale to France.
He invested in the Canary Company in 1664. Rawdon died, unmarried, at Hoddesdon, on 7 February 1669, and was buried in the chancel of the church at Broxbourne.
By his will he left to the corporation of York a gold loving cup, and money to purchase a gold chain for the lady mayoress of New York