John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham

John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham (13 March 1687 – 10 March 1737) was a British peer.

Career

Ashburnham was the second son of John Ashburnham, 1st Baron Ashburnham and his wife, Bridget, daughter of Walter Vaughan from Brecon, south Wales, who had inherited Pembrey.^[1] In 1710, he became Tory Member of Parliament for Hastings, but was forced to resign his seat a few months later when he inherited his childless brother's barony of Ashburnham. Soon after this he realised that he had to abandon his family's mild pro-Jacobite stance and support the Whigs.

From 1713 to 1715, Ashburnham became Colonel of the 1st (His Majesty's Own) Troop of Horse Guards, a Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales from 1728 to 1731 and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1731 to 1733. On 14 May 1730, he was created Earl of Ashburnham and Viscount St Asaph.

Family

On 21 October 1710, Ashburnham married Lady Mary Butler (died 1713), the second daughter of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde. After her death, he married, on 25 July 1714, Henrietta, Dowager Countess of Anglesey and 4th Baroness Strange; they had one child, Henrietta (c.1716–1732), later 5th Baroness Strange. After his second wife's death in 1718, Ashburnham married Lady Jemima Grey (died 1731), the second daughter and coheiress of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent; they had one child, John, styled Viscount St Asaph (1724–1812), later 2nd Earl of Ashburnham.^[2]

Notes

1. A History of the County of Brecknock, vol. 2, by Theophilus Jones (1809), viewable on google books
2. The Ashburnham archive is held at the East Sussex Record Office.