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

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

.

Career

Ashburnham was the second son of John Ashburnham, 1st Baron Ashburnham

John Ashburnham, 1st Baron Ashburnham

John Ashburnham, 1st Baron Ashburnham was an English landowner and politician.Ashburnham was the son of William Ashburnham and the grandson of John Ashburnham. His mother was the Honourable Elizabeth, daughter of John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett. He sat as Member of Parliament for Hastings from...

 and his wife, Bridget, daughter of Walter Vaughan from Brecon

Brecon

Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...

, south Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, who had inherited Pembrey

Pembrey

Pembrey is a village in Carmarthenshire Wales, situated between Burry Port and Kidwelly, overlooking Carmarthen Bay.-History:The name Pembrey is an Anglicisation of the Welsh, Pen-bre...

. In 1710, he became Tory

Tories (political faction)

The Tories were members of two political parties which existed, sequentially, in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain and later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the 17th to the early 19th centuries.-Overview:...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Hastings

Hastings (UK Parliament constituency)

Hastings was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 1885 general election, when its representation was reduced to one member....

, but was forced to resign his seat a few months later when he inherited his childless brother's barony of Ashburnham

Earl of Ashburnham

The title Baron Ashburnham , of Ashburnham in the County of Sussex, was created in the Peerage of England in 1689 for John Ashburnham, grandson of the John Ashburnham who assisted King Charles I to escape from Oxford and Hampton Court Palace...

. Soon after this he realised that he had to abandon his family's mild pro-Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 stance and support the Whigs.

From 1713 to 1715, Ashburnham became Colonel of the 1st (His Majesty's Own) Troop of Horse Guards

1st Troop of Horse Guards

The 1st Troop of Horse Guards was formed from King Charles II's exiled followers in the Netherlands ....

, a Lord of the Bedchamber

Lord of the Bedchamber

A Lord of the Bedchamber, previously known as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household of the King of the United Kingdom and the Prince of Wales. A Lord of the Bedchamber's duties consisted of assisting the King with his dressing, waiting on him when he ate in private,...

 to Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

 from 1728 to 1731 and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard

Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard

The Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a UK government post usually held by the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords...

 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

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde KG KT was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormonde...

. After her death, he married, on 25 July 1714, Henrietta, Dowager Countess of Anglesey and 4th Baroness Strange

Henrietta Stanley, 4th Baroness Strange

Henrietta Maria Stanley, 4th Baroness Strange was an English peeress.Henrietta was born in 1687, the daughter of the 9th Earl of Derby. He died in 1709 and one of his titles, Baron Strange, fell into abeyance between Lady Henrietta and her younger sister Lady Elizabeth...

; 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

Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent

Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent KG PC was a British politician and courtier.-Family:He was a son of Anthony Grey, 11th Earl of Kent and Mary Grey, 1st Baroness Lucas of Crudwell...

; they had one child, John, styled Viscount St Asaph

John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham

John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham, PC , styled Viscount St Asaph from 1730 to 1737, was a British peer and courtier....

(1724–1812), later 2nd Earl of Ashburnham.