Mass. United States of America. Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton, C.B. The Camp, Huxley, Thomas Henry, LL.D., F.R.S. 4 Marl borough place, St. John's Wood, London. Latham, R. Gordon, M.D. 96 Disraeli road, Putney, London. Lubbock, Sir John, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., F.S.A. Owen, Sir Richard, K.C.B., F.R.S. Sheen Ruskin, John, LL.D. Brantwood, Coniston, Smith, Charles Roach, F.R.S. Temple place, Stokes, George Gabriel, LL.D. Pembroke London. 21 Albemarle street, Walcott, Rev. Mackenzie Edward Charles, 58 Belgrave road, London, S.W. TRANSACTIONS. NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF ASHTON OF PENKETH, By J. Venn, Sc.D., F.R.S., Fellow of Gonville and (Read 15th April, 1886.) A MONG the Lancashire families which are supposed to be extinct in the male line, and about which very little information seems to be attainable, is that of the Ashtons of Penketh, near Warrington. Circumstances having caused me to take some interest in the fortunes of this family, I have been asked to communicate such information, as I have been able to obtain from various sources, to the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. It does not amount to much, after all, and the family, though of ancient gentle descent in the county, was never one of any great local importance; still there are some points of interest to bring forward, and I presume that any information of the kind in question, which is not accessible from any ordinary printed source, will be acceptable to the Society. The Ashtons of Penketh are duly included in the Lancashire Visitations of 1567 and 1613. In order not to take up too much space, I will merely give the last three generations, as recorded in the latter of these Visitations. It stands as follows in *The Arms allowed to the Ashtons of Penketh at the Visitations of 1567 and 1613 were :Quarterly, 1st and 4th Argent, a chevron between three mascles Gules, for Ashton; 2nd and 3rd Argent, three popinjays proper, plumed about the neck Azure, for Penketh, the pedigree printed by the Chetham Society, with the exception of the four younger daughters whose names are supplied from a MS. at Gonville and Caius College, referred to below. In the Visitation by Dugdale in 1664-5, there is no mention of this family. It will be seen that the family, strictly speaking, terminates with five daughters, and I presume this is what is intended in Baines's history of the county (vol. iii. p. 731), where he says that "the Ashton family ended in the Heywoods of Heywood"; though it is not very clear to me why he should have singled out one daughter in this way, and given no further indication as to the others. The family estate does not seem to have gone to the Heywoods. Baines's account appears to me misleading, in overlooking the fact that, through the daughter Christian, who married (her kinsman) Hamlett Ashton, the same family designation of "Ashton "of Penketh," associated with the same estate and bearing the same family arms, was continued for two or three generations further. One member of this continuation played, for a short time, a very conspicuous, though personally a very unfortunate part, in the public history of the country. This was John Ashton, the Jacobite, the associate, with Lord Preston and Mr. Elliott, in the famous plot of December, 1690, and the only member of the conspiracy who suffered death for his share in it. Conspicuous as he was at the moment, however, his fate is singular in respect of the entire ignorance which seems to exist about him on the part of the historians and writers in biographical dictionaries. He blazes into notoriety in December, 1690, at Gravesend, when Captain Billop catches the ship in which the party had embarked, and he disappears as suddenly at Tyburn a month afterwards; leaving, apparently, no trace behind, except a mass of ephemeral pamphlet literature respectively denouncing the "Traitor" and celebrating the "Martyr ". Scarcely a vestige of information seemed attainable as to his origin and personal history. In the State Trials, where a very full account of the whole evidence against him is given, he is merely described as "John Ashton, gent., of Covent Garden"; whilst Macaulay and the other historians give no more minute description than that he was "a Lancashire gentleman ". Nor in the biographical dictionaries, where one would naturally look for more minute particulars, is the slightest indication of his origin to be discovered. .* He was, however, an Ashton of Penketh. This is decisively shewn by the administration of his effects (Prerog. Court of Cant., 20 Sept., 1698), taken out some years after his death by his father-in-law, Edward Rigby, where he is described as "Johannes "Ashton nuper de Penkett in Com. Lancastria". Moreover there were several portraits of him taken ;* one of these-by Riley, a court painter of the day-was engraved, and on this engraving, along with the name, are represented the arms of the Ashtons of Penketh, which are very distinct (I believe) from those of all the other families of that name in Lancashire. Thirdly, as a piece of collateral evidence, tending still further to identify him, it will be found that, in the State Trials, there is occasional reference to his "aunt Dupee ". On turning to the will (to be presently noticed) of William Ashton of Penketh, we find that one of his sisters was named Dupuy. So much seems clear enough, but * Three, according to Granger, (Biog. Hist. Continuation by Noble.) It is printed Dupney, but I feel sure this must be a misreading for the much more probable form Dupuy. Two or three generations of gentlemen of this name seem to have held office at the Court. See, for instance, the entry in the Calendar of State Papers (Domestic) for 1661-2; "Henry Dupuy, servant to the Duke of York-reverson to his sons James, Thomas, "and Lawrence, of the custody of the Pall Mall". There are similar grants in 1672 and 1687, "with the usual fee or allowance of £100 p. ann., together with the use of the house or "lodge called the Mall House". the process of fitting the Jacobite sufferer into his place in the family line is far from clear. Before offering my solution, the readers of a historical journal would probably prefer to have all the evidence laid before them, so as to enable them to judge for themselves. This I proceed accordingly to do. First, however, a few words may be given to the personal history of the Jacobite sufferer. He was born about the year 1653 (vide marriage licence below). He must have entered the royal service at a comparatively early age, for, at his trial in 1690, he speaks of having been in that service for sixteen years. One of the contemporary pamphlets describes him as "commonly "called Major Ashton". According to a family tradition he was "Paymaster of the pensions to Charles II. and Privy Purse to "James II." There must be some mistake about this, however, for any appointment so important as this would surely have been recorded; and a careful search amongst the principal original entries of household appointments at the Record Office has not resulted in detecting his name. He certainly, however, held some minor appointment at the Court,* and was much mixed up with the court society of the time. He is, for instance, frequently mentioned in Bishop Cartwright's Diary (edited by the Rev. J. Hunter, in 1843, for the Camden Society), along with Lord Preston, Colonel Worden, Mr. Dupuy, and others of that party. The bishop,, in his will, left him a ring, he being apparently the only non-relative mentioned among these bequests. Moreover, in Clarendon's Diary, the date and juxtaposition with the Bishop of Ely leave no doubt that he is referred to in the following passages : "April 16, 1690. In the evening the Bishop of Ely . . . "and Mr. As- arrived." "April 17. In the morning Mr. As went to London." The Bishop of Ely, as is well known, was involved in Lord Preston's plot, and saved himself by flight. Probably under General Worden, his intimate friendship, and partaking of the Commu nion with whom, is insisted upon, at his trial, as evidence of his attachment to the Church of England. In General Worden's will (Prerog. Court, Cant., 1690), John Ashton is referred to as his "servant ". Worden himself is there described (1688) as "Treasurer to the Queen's Majesty". Ashton is a witness to the will. " |