Captain William Francis Dawson (born ???? - died 29 March 1829) was a prominent road builder in British Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). An Engineer attached to the Royal Engineers, he was given the task of building the Colombo - Kandy Road linking Colombo and Kandy. The job took its toll on Dawson, who died before it was completed. It would be the first modern highway in the island. In the memory of Captain Dawson, the Dawson Tower was erected at Kadugannawa in the Kadugannawa Pass Less