ASHBURNHAM COMPLETE PEERAGE 271 ASHBURNHAM f) BARONY. I. John Ashburnham, of Ashburnham, Sussex, s. and J ^„ h. of William A. (who d. v.p., 1665), C") by Elizabeth, "■ da. of John (Poulett), ist Lord Poulett, was i*. 15 Jan. 1655/6, at Chiswick, Midx. M.P. (Tory) for Hastings 1679-81, 1685-87, 1689. On 20 May 1689, he was cr. BARON ASHBURNHAM C^) of Ashburnham, Sussex. From 19 Oct. 1702 till his death, he was Custos Rotulorum of co. Brecon. He w., 22 July 1677, at Westm. Abbey, Bridget, da. and h. of Walter V.^vughan, (") of Porthammel House, co. Brecon. He J., (^) at his house in Southampton Str., Bloomsbury, 21 Jan., and was ^«r. i Feb. 1709/10, at Ashburnham, aged 44. Will pr. Feb. 1710. His widow d. 12, and was ^ur. 19 May 1719, in her 59th year, at Ashburnham. Will dat. 12 Sep. 17 17, pr. 22 May 1719. II. 1 7 10. 2. William (Ashburnham), Baron Ashburnham, s. and h., ^. 21 and l^ap. 22 May 1679, at St. Martin's-in- the-Fields ; reg. at Ashburnham. M.P. (Tor}') for Hastings, 1702-10. He m., 16 Oct. 1705, at Carby, co. Lincoln, Catharine, da. and eventually sole h. of Thomas Taylor, of Clapham, Beds, by Ursula, his wife. ( ) (■) This is one of the twelve families given in Drummond's Noble British Families. See p. II 8, note " b. " " The common account [writes a correspondent] of the descent of this family given by Fuller and others is mythical. The true descent is probably from Criol, to which name belongs the oldest quartering. Hence also the name Bertram. " () This William was s. and h. ap. of John A., of Ashburnham, Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles I, and well known for his close relations with that King, who ^.15 June 167 1. It seems remarkable that this John Ashburnham, who had done so much for the House of Stuart, should not have been raised to the Peerage imme- diately after the Restoration of that House, while his grandson (whose chief claim to distinction appears to have been that he was such grandson) should have been cr. a Baron by the very King who had driven the House of Stuart into banishment. Clarendon explains the neglect of John the elder by the general opinion (not shared by him) that John A. had been outwitted, if not corrupted, by Cromwell at the time of Charles I leaving Hampton Court. C^) The Ashburnhams of Ashburnham bear Gules a fesse between six molets silver. In old times the molets were pierced, and thirteenth century seals show that Ashburnham bore for a time a fretty coat derived from a match with Mautravers. {ex inform. Oswald Barron.) V^.G. C*) Walter was s. and h. of Sir Charles Vaughan, by Frances, da. of Sir Robert Knollys. A pedigree of him is given in Jones's Brecknockshire, vol. ii, p. 341, but the name of his wife (about whom there seems some mystery) is not stated therein. (*) According to Macky he was (1704) " a thin brown man. " ( ) Among the sixteen " delinquents " of co. Bedford, whose estates were "decimated " in 1655, the amount {£<)o) levied on " Richard Taylor of Clopham Esq. " was only exceeded by two others, viz. Conquest of Houghton Conquest G^i2o) and Leigh of Leighton Buzzard [£,12S)- See Thurloe State Papers, vol. iv, p. 513. The property of Clapham (more anciently Clopham) passed (by sale, or entail) to the
