ASSHETON (ASHTON), Richard (1654-1705), of Allerton and Gledhow, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

11 Jan. 1703 - 1705

Family and Education

b. 4 May 1654, 2nd s. of Sir Ralph Ashton, 1st Bt., of Middleton, nr. Manchester, Lancs.; bro. of Sir Ralph, 2nd Bt.*  educ. privately.  m. Mary, da. of John Parker of Extwisle, Lancs., wid. of Benjamin Waddington of Allerton and Gledhow, 3s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Biography

After his father’s death Assheton was brought up by his mother, a Presbyterian sympathizer, and for a time his tutor was a Dissenting minister who had been ejected in 1662. When Hon. James Stanley* succeeded as 10th Earl of Derby in November 1702 Assheton began canvassing support for the Lancashire seat left vacant and, with Derby’s support and despite the protestations of the Tory Viscount Cornbury (Edward Hyde*) that Assheton ‘cannot be acceptable under the rose at this time’, he was returned unopposed. Assheton was an inactive Member, but in October 1704 he was classed as a probable opponent of the Tack, and in the division on 28 Nov. either approved the measure or was absent. He did not stand at the general election of 1705 and died in September the same year. His son succeeded to the baronetcy in 1716, but Assheton himself was the last member of his family to sit in Parliament.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Richard Harrison

Notes

  • 1. Vis. Lancs. (Chetham Soc. ser. 1, lxxxiv), 15; Dorm. and Extinct Baronetcies, 19–22; Life of Adam Martindale (Chetham Soc. ser 1, iv), 196.
  • 2. Greater Manchester RO, Legh of Lyme mss E17/89/25/2, Hyde to Peter Legh†, 23 Nov. 1702; John Rylands Univ. Lib. Manchester, Legh of Lyme mss corresp. Edward Allanson to same, 2 Dec. 1702.