Sir Francis Ashley (24 November 1569 – 28 November 1635) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

at various times between 1614 and 1625.

Biography

Ashley was born at Damerham, the son of Sir Anthony Ashley of Damerham in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

and his wife Dorothy Lyte, daughter of John Lyte of Lytes Cary,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. At the age of 16, he entered

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, and graduated with BA on 5 June 1589. He went on to study law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

where he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1596. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1714: Appleyard-Azard', Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 29–50. Retrieved 4 December 2011
/ref> In 1610 he was appointed recorder of Dorchester. He purchased the Old Friary on the north side of the town by the River Frome, where he made extensive alterations, and lived there with his family. In 1614, Ashley was elected Member of Parliament for Dorchester. He became reader at the

in 1616. In 1617 he became Serjeant-at-law and in the same year granted to Rev. Robert Cheeke, the master of the Dorchester Free School and Rector of All Saints Church, Dorchester, all his "tithes of corne, grayne, hay, woole, lambes, oak etc belonging to the free chapel of Pudle Waterston". Ashley was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

on 5 July 1618. In 1621 he was re-elected MP for Dorchester but on 13 February 1621 resigned his place in favour of Sir Thomas Edmondes. However, Edmondes chose to sit elsewhere and Ashley was chosen again as MP for Dorchester on 9 Mar 1621. He was greatly influenced by the Rev. John White, rector of Holy Trinity Church, Dorchester and St Peters, and with him and others invested in 1624 in the

Massachusetts Bay Company Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode Island to it ...

, also known as the Dorchester Company. Ashley was elected MP for Dorchester again in 1625. In Parliament, he strongly supported the

royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, Privilege (law), privilege, and immunity recognised in common law (and sometimes in Civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy) as belonging to the monarch, so ...

and was an active member and chairman of committees However, in his religious views he was sympathetic to the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

cause. He became King's Serjeant in 1625 and was very active at Dorchester sitting regularly at the

Quarter Sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland establ ...

from 1625 until his death. He was chosen as the judge for an extraordinary commission set up on 17 January 1627 when he condemned seven soldiers and a tapster to death for

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...

although six soldiers were later pardoned. On 22 April 1628, he was imprisoned by the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

for speaking against the liberty of the subject, but was released when he recanted and craved pardon. As King's Serjeant, he represented the Crown in various cases including the trial of John Felton, the assassin of

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ( ; 20 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and self-described "lover" of King James VI and I. Buckingham remained at the heigh ...

. He suffered an attack of

palsy Palsy is a medical term which refers to various types of paralysisDan Agin, ''More Than Genes: What Science Can Tell Us About Toxic Chemicals, Development, and the Risk to Our Children'' (2009), p. 172. or paresis, often accompanied by weakness and ...

in London on 7 January 1629 but recovered. In the new

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

granted to Dorchester on 22 September 1629, his appointment as recorder was confirmed. On 19 June 1630, he had to defend himself before the

Star Chamber The court of Star Chamber () was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the ...

against accusations of a

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

against

Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry (157814 January 1640) was a prominent English lawyer, politician and judge during the early 17th century. Education and early legal career He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1592, and the Inner Temple in ...

, the

Lord Keeper The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain, was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. This position evolved into that of one of the Great Officers of S ...

, who "scandalized him by saying he had taken a bribe of six hundred pounds". Ashley's nephew Anthony Ashley Cooper had been left very extensive estates through the death of his father and grandfather and these were under the control of the

Court of Wards The Court of Wards and Liveries was a court established during the reign of Henry VIII in England. Its purpose was to administer a system of feudal dues; but as well as the revenue collection, the court was also responsible for wardship and ...

. Ashley was among the administrators of the estates and Cooper later accused these administrators of attempting to wrest some of his lands from him while he was still a minor and a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

of Court. Ashley, he singled out, almost certainly unfairly, as the worst and most avaricious offender who used his legal abilities and influences to obtain his ends through the Court of Wards. In one of these proceedings on 16 November 1635, Ashley was making a speech before the Court when his nephew uttered a prayer to be delivered from the lawyer's arguments and purposes. At this point, Ashley collapsed with a paralytic seizure with "his mouth drawn to his ear" and was carried out of the Court and never spoke again. He died 12 days later on 28 November 1635 at the

Serjeant's Inn Serjeant's Inn (formerly Serjeants' Inn) was the legal inn of the Serjeants-at-Law in London. Originally there were two separate societies of Serjeants-at-law: the Fleet Street inn dated from 1443 and the Chancery Lane inn dated from 1416. In 1 ...

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

at the age of 66. His body was brought back to Dorchester and buried in

St Peter's Church, Dorchester St Peter's Church is a Church of England church in Dorchester, Dorset, England. The majority of the church dates from the 15th century, with later alterations and extensions over the following centuries. The church has been a Grade I listed buil ...

. Ashley married Anne Samways, the eldest daughter of Bernard (or Robert) Samways of

Toller Fratrum Toller Fratrum () is a very small village and civil parish in Dorset, England, near Maiden Newton, anciently in Tollerford Hundred. The name is taken from the village's situation on the brook formerly known as the Toller, now called the Hooke. ...

and through her, he acquired lands and property at

Winterborne St Martin Winterborne St Martin, commonly known as Martinstown, is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, situated southwest of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, beside Maiden Castle, Dorset, Maiden Castle. In 20 ...

although only after a lengthy lawsuit with Sir Francis Fulford, who married Anne's sister Elizabeth. Their only surviving child was Dorothy who married Denzil Holles on 4 June 1626.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Francis 1569 births 1635 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of England for Dorchester English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1625