(199) Ash of Packwood House

Ash of Packwood

In the early 20th century the genealogy of this family was traced back to Richard Ash of Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics), who was a billman in the militia in 1539. The family's rise to wealth and social prominence only began, however, in the 19th century, when Thomas Ash (1796-1866) moved from Burton-on-Trent (Staffs) to Birmingham and established himself in business first as a grocer and chemist, and then from c.1840 as a zinc manufacturer. The four sons from his large family who survived to adulthood all went into business, but it was his second son, Joseph Ash (1824-1915) who took over the zinc manufacturing business and in 1864 set up the limited company of Ash & Lacy which is still in business today. By the end of his long life, Joseph Ash had made a substantial fortune and his estate was valued at over £165,000 at his death, even though he had generously supported a number of philanthropic causes in Birmingham in his lifetime. His four sons again followed their father into business, with Thomas Henry Ash (1845-1917) and Alfred James Ash (1858-1925) taking over Ash & Lacy. This was the first generation which grew up in an environment of secure middle-class prosperity, and with the family's increasing wealth they invested in increasingly grand suburban houses around Birmingham. Alfred Ash also developed a passion for horse-racing, and kept a string of horses in training near Newmarket.

Alfred's only son, and the heir to the family's interests in Ash & Lacy, Graham Baron Ash (1889-1980) was very different to his forebears. He was an educated, precise and fastidious man, with a keen interest in history, literature and the arts; it is said to have been he, at the tender age of fifteen, who persuaded his father to buy Packwood House.

Joseph, Alfred and Baron Ash at Packwood c.1905
Image: National Trust images

When he inherited his father's business interests in 1925 he lost no time in realising them and for the rest of his life he lived comfortably on the income from the resulting investments. Between 1925 and 1932 he remodelled Packwood and filled it with architectural fittings and furniture which he rescued from old houses that were being demolished and from the salerooms, bent on making Packwood a perfect 17th century stage set. By the time the Second World War broke out in 1939 the task was complete to his satisfaction, and he persuaded an initially reluctant National Trust to take the house on and preserve it in perpetuity. It remains very much as he left it, a period piece which tells us at least as much about the restoration aesthetic of the 1920s and 1930s as it does about the 17th century. 

After leaving Packwood, Baron Ash (as he liked to be known) took a lease on another historic house, Wingfield Castle in Suffolk, which he also restored, and where he continued to live a bachelor existence until his death, aged 91, in 1980.

Packwood House, Warwickshire

Packwood House: entrance front and the stable range to the north. Image: National Trust

Packwood was built as a rather grand farmhouse and has steadily gone up in the world. The original house was a three storey rendered timber-framed building, built about 1580-90 for William Fetherston, yeoman, who in 1599 conveyed the contents of his 'great mancient howse' to his son John. There is one surviving Elizabethan window in the house, now in an upper internal partition in the north part of the western half of the house, which suggests that the original plan was L-shaped. In the 17th century the family stepped over the line into the gentry, and in the 1660s, the house was made grander for John Fetherston (1593-1670). A new stable block was built in 1663-65 which forms the north side of the forecourt to the house. It is of red brick with blue-brick chequer and other patterns, and also has brick pilasters, moulded cornices, and blank ovals and roundels. The only surviving bill for work on the house relates to the construction of a timber-framed addition of three rooms and two chimneys by Roger Hurlbutt, carpenter, in 1670, and this could relate to the extension of the original L-shaped house to give the present square footprint.

Packwood House from the south-east across the walled garden. Image: National Trust.

A sketch of 1756 shows the house then still had its timber framing exposed, and the pattern was fairly ornate, suggesting it was designed to be seen; the house also still had its original casement windows. By the time it was drawn again in the early 19th century the house had been rendered, and sash windows with pointed Gothick panes had been inserted. Most of the fenestration, including the large window lighting the hall with three transoms, is now 20th century, and, together with the restored gables, dates from the remodelling of the house by Edwin Reynolds (of Wood, Kendrick & Reynolds of Birmingham) for Graham Baron Ash in 1925-32.

Packwood House: the Great Hall from an early postcard view

In addition to restoring the structure, a new staircase was installed and a long gallery built to link the house with a new 'great hall' or music room, created out of a cow byre in the yard in 1925-27; the entrance hall was completely remodelled in 1931. Removal of the external plaster was apparently contemplated, but never realised, perhaps because very little of the original timber frame survives on the ground floor. By the end of the 1930s, Baron Ash was satisfied with the house he had created, and he gave the house to the National Trust with an endowment and a large part of his collection. He wanted nothing changed after his departure, and Packwood remains as he left it: not a home, but a carefully considered work of art. For Baron Ash it was a perfect evocation of a 17th century gentry house, but to modern eyes it is clamantly a creation of the inter-war years. Those who denigrate as 'pastiche' work in historical styles and say we should build something 'of our own time' should perhaps reflect on that fact.

Packwood House: the long gallery created in 1925-27. Image: National Trust.

Baron Ash collected what we now call 'architectural salvage' from old buildings that were being demolished to enhance the interiors of Packwood. He said "I am rescuing whatever I can from other places and preserving it here. Of course, there are many glaring examples of 'over' restoration and I am proceeding with the utmost caution". The chimneypiece in the great hall comes from a house in Stratford-on-Avon that was a wine shop in Shakespeare's day and Baron Ash no doubt enjoyed the thought that Shakespeare himself might have warmed himself in front of it. That he enjoyed a piece with strong associations is evidenced by the fact that he bought from Owlpen Manor (Glos) a bed in which Queen Margaret of Anjou was reputed to have slept the night before the Battle of Tewkesbury. He also acquired tapestries and a great medieval oak refectory table from Baddesley Clinton, the oak floors from Lymore Hall (Montgomerys) in 1929, panelling from Shaftmoor Hall near Hall Green, Birmingham, a chimneypiece from Chipping Norton, and 17th century stained glass from the famous collection at Culham House (Oxon) which was dispersed in 1935. He also moved around the fittings that were indigenous to the house to create the effect that he wanted.

Packwood House: the 'Sermon on the Mount' yew garden. Image: Robert Moore.

Today, Packwood is probably as famous for its garden as anything else. On the south side of the forecourt is a walled garden, which has in its corners four gazebos; that in the NE corner is of c.1680, the SW one is perhaps early 18th century, and the others are mid 20th century. A set of 18th century gates leads south out of the garden and on the outer face of the wall on this side are thirty round-headed niches for bee skeps. Beyond this is the celebrated Yew Garden, said to have been planted by John Fetherston in the 1660s to represent the Sermon on the Mount, with an avenue called the Multitude Walk, then twelve larger Apostles, four even bigger Evangelists, and finally, on a mount, one gigantic yew representing Christ. While some of the planting is undoubtedly early, the concept and the present arrangement feel more 19th than 17th century. A park was created around the house in the 1870s for George Arton.

Descent: William Fetherston (d. 1601); given 1599 to his son, John Fetherston (d. 1634); to son, John Fetherston (1593-1670); to son, Thomas Fetherston (1633-1714); to sister, wife of Thomas Leigh of Aldridge (Staffs); to daughter, Catherine Leigh (d. 1769); to half-nephew, Thomas Dilke (later Fetherston-Dilke) (d. 1814); to brother, Charles Fetherston-Dilke (d. 1831);...the house was let after 1851; sold 1869 to George Oakes Arton (d. 1904); sold after his death to Alfred James Ash (1858-1925); to son, Graham Baron Ash (1889-1980), who gave it in 1941 to The National Trust.

Ash family of Packwood House

Ash, Thomas (1796-1866) of Ashted, Birmingham. Only son of Joseph Ash of Burton-on-Trent (Staffs) and his first wife, Elizabeth Aldritt, baptised at Burton-on-Trent, 20 January 1796. Originally a grocer, tea dealer and druggist in Birmingham; he established a zinc coating and galvanised iron business c.1840 and was subsequently described as druggist and zinc manufacturer. He married, 14 October 1821, Eliza (c.1804-75), daughter of Thomas Freer of Birmingham, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Freer Ash (1823-1909), born 10 February and baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 7 March 1823; railway agent in Scotland in the 1850s and 1860s and later a manufacturer in Birmingham; lived at "Rookwood", Erdington (Warks); paid for the provision of new pews in Erdington church, 1887; married 1st, Oct-Dec. 1846 at West Bromwich (Staffs), Harriet Hands (c.1820-87) but had no issue; married 2nd, 9 November 1889 at St George's Hanover Square, London, Emma (d. 1941), daughter of John Jackson of Bayswater (Middx) and widow of (Francis Philip) Adolphe Vicarino (d. 1876) of London and Paris, clock and watch importer; died 29 March and was buried at Erdington, 1 April 1909; will proved 15 May 1909 (estate £28,944);

(2) Joseph Ash (1824-1915) (q.v.);

(3) Sophia Ash (1826-1917), born 9 April 1826 and baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 15 June 1829; married, 20 June 1849 at Aston (Warks), William Scott Goodger of Burton-on-Trent, grocer, and had issue; died 6 April 1917 aged 90; will proved 17 May 1917 (estate £1,256);

(4) James Freer Ash (1828-93), born 17 April 1828 and baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 15 June 1829; pharmaceutical chemist; married, 27 January 1857 at St Paul, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, Frances Elizabeth (c.1829-1912), daughter of F. Slucock, and had issue; lived latterly at Acocks Green, Birmingham; died 18 November 1893; will proved 2 January 1894 (effects £517);

(5) Eliza Freer Ash (b. c.1830-1913); married, 29 September 1853 at St Andrew, Montpellier, Bristol, Edwin Throsby (c.1827-1914), shopkeeper and had issue; died at Kings Heath, 7 July 1913; will proved 23 July 1913 (estate £166);

(6) Anna Maria Ash (1833-36); buried at St. James, Aston (Warks), 24 May 1836;

(7) George Freer Ash (1837-45), born 29 December 1837 and was baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 5 February 1838; died young, Jan-Mar 1845;

(8) Lt-Col. Alfred Freer Ash (1841-1921), born 7 August 1841 and baptised at St. Philip, Birmingham, 25 January 1842; clerk to his father and later metal merchant; JP for Birmingham and Warwickshire; Lt-Col. commanding 2nd battn, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1897-98; living at Meriden in 1911; married, Apr-Jun 1867, Matilda (1847-1925), daughter of William Clayton of Saltley, Birmingham, and had issue four children; died 1 June and was buried at Harborne, Birmingham, 3 June 1921; will proved 23 June 1921 (estate £2,709);

(9) Louisa Ash (c.1843-1940), born c.1843 and baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 8 October 1849; married, 1 June 1892, George Henry Machin (c.1842-1921) of Erdington, farmer but had no issue; died 8 April 1940 aged about 96; will proved 1 July 1940 (estate £3,468);

(10) Emma Ash (c.1844-64); born c.1844; died unmarried, Apr-Jun 1864.

He died 22 January and was buried at St James, Ashted, 27 January 1866; his will was proved 8 May 1866 (effects under £2,000). His widow died 18 March 1875.

Ash, Joseph (1824-1915). Son of Thomas Ash (1796-1866) of Birmingham and his wife Eliza, daughter of Thomas Freer of Birmingham, born 30 June 1824 and baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 15 June 1829. He took over his father's zinc coating business and in 1864 went into partnership with John Pierce Lacy as Ash & Lacy; he also set up a separate business, Joseph Ash & Son, to manufacture galvanized roofing and metal storage tanks, and was a director of the Birmingham Wagon Co. He had extensive philanthropic interests in Birmingham, including the Blue Coat School, the General Dispensary, the Blind Asylum, the Deaf Institution, and the Harborne Industrial School. A Conservative in politics. He married, 4 July 1848 at Aston (Warks), Mary Ann (c.1825-1918), daughter of Henry Genders of Walsall (Staffs), office clerk, and had issue:

(1) Sarah Eliza Ash (1849-1928), baptised at St Philip, Birmingham, 8 October 1849; married, Jul-Sep. 1870, Enoch Shufflebotham (1845-1913) of Fiery Hill, Barnt Green, oil and colour merchant and refiner, and had issue two daughters; died 28 May 1928; will proved 3 August 1928 (estate £21,289);

(2) Thomas Henry Ash (1851-1917) of The Mount, Richmond Hill Rd., Edgbaston, Birmingham, baptised at St James, Ashted, 11 May 1851; director of Ash & Lacy of Birmingham, zinc manufacturers; JP for Warwickshire; married, 12 February 1880 at West Bromwich (Staffs), Annie Jane (1861-1931), daughter of Josiah Guest and had issue; died 26 September 1917; will proved 24 November 1917 (estate £56,745);

(3) Joseph Lathbury Ash (1853-1917), born 23 May 1853 and baptised at St James, Ashted, 17 October 1855; plumber and ironmonger in Birmingham; retired to Minterne Magna (Dorset); married 1st, 31 October 1877 at St Martin, Birmingham, Mary Louisa Jenkins Clark (c.1855-1902), daughter of John Clark, ironmonger, and had issue; married 2nd, Jul-Sep 1907 at Totnes (Devon), Lucy Davis (b. c.1873) but had no further issue; died 21 October and was buried 25 October 1917 at Minterne Magna; will proved 9 February 1918 (estate £1,218);

(4) Clara Elizabeth Ash (1855-1939), baptised at St James, Ashted, 17 October 1855; married, 18 October 1903 at St Mark, Leamington (Warks), David Balfour (1839-1914), civil engineer, of Myre Hall, Houghton-le-Spring (Durham), but had no issue; died 9 January 1939; will proved 25 February 1939 (estate £967);

(5) Louisa Harriet Ash (1857-), born Apr-Jun 1857 and baptised as an adult at St Martin, Birmingham, 23 April 1876; married, 23 February 1881 at St Mary, Moseley, Birmingham, Ernest Frank Stevens (c.1856-94) of Shifnal (Shropshire), bank manager, son of James Stevens, gent. and had issue eight children of whom two died young; living in 1911;

(6) Alfred James Ash (1858-1925) (q.v.);

(7) Edward Ash (1860-85), born Oct-Dec 1860; perhaps the person of this name who died Oct-Dec 1885;

(8) Laura Ellen Ash (1862-1946), born Jul-Sep 1862 and baptised as an adult at Yardley, 13 February 1882; married, 8 July 1885 at Yardley (Worcs), John Ebenezer Hoskins (1856-1916), of The Grange, Yardley (Worcs), bedstead manufacturer, son of Ebenezer Hoskins, and had issue seven children of whom one died young; died 1 April 1946; will proved 21 August 1946 (estate £7,246);

(9) Edith M. Ash (b. c.1865; born about 1865; living in 1881;

(10) Ernest Frederick Ash (1866-1949), born 12 July and baptised 18 October 1866; wire netting manufacturer; married, 8 September 1892 at Yardley, Ada Florence (1868-1961), daughter of Charles Joseph Parsons, gent., and had issue two daughters; died in Bournemouth, 4 October 1949; administration (with will annexed) granted, 8 March 1950 (estate £38,856);

(11) Amelia Mary Ash (1868-1966), born Apr-Jun 1868 and baptised as an adult, 11 April 1888 at Yardley; married, 4 April 1903 at St Mark, Leamington (Warks), Charles John Astbury (1873-1955), barrister-at-law, son of Frederick James Astbury, chartered accountant; died 28 July 1966 aged 98; will proved 28 October 1966 (estate £3,824).

He lived at Acocks Green until 1885 and then moved to Gaveston, Milverton, Leamington (Warks).
He died 1 August 1915 aged 91 and was buried at Milverton, 4 August 1915; his will was proved 2 October 1915 (estate £165,503). His widow died 10 February 1918; her will was proved 19 April 1918 (estate £10,293).

Alfred James Ash

Ash, Alfred James (1858-1925). Third son of Joseph Ash (1824-1915) of Milverton (Warks) and his wife Mary Ann, daughter of Henry Genders of Walsall (Staffs), born 27 October 1858. Iron manufacturer at Birmingham; Chairman of Ash & Lacy Ltd. Appointed OBE. His principal enthusiasm was horse-racing, but he also appears to have enjoyed indulging the aesthetic and antiquarian tastes of his son and heir. He married, 19 September 1883 at Yardley (Worcs), Emily Hannah (1857-1918), daughter of John Barker of Fern Bank, Acocks Green, Birmingham, and had issue:

(1) Graham Baron Ash (1889-1980) (q.v.);

(2) Beryl Holroyd Ash (1893-1986), born 9 October 1893 and baptised at Yardley, 20 January 1894; married, 4 January 1917 at Packwood, Capt. John Leslie Mellor OBE (1886-1958) of Lapworth (Warks), director of Ash & Lacy Ltd, son of John Firth Mellor; died 9 April 1986 aged 92; will proved 31 December 1986 (estate £762,095).

He purchased Packwood House in 1904, reputedly at the request of his son.
He died 19 July 1925; his will was proved 19 August 1925 (estate £100,087). His wife died 8 January 1918; her will was proved 12 March 1918 (estate £1,832).

Graham Baron Ash,
from a portrait by D.W. Dring, 1943

Ash, Graham Baron* (1889-1980). Son of Alfred James Ash (1858-1925) and his wife Emily Hannah, daughter of John Barker of Fern Bank, Acocks Green, Birmingham, born 18 August 1889. Educated at Radley; did not attend University but undertook an eight month world tour, 1910. Served in WW1 with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, 1914-18 and again in WW2, 1939-40. On inheriting his father's estate he sold his holdings in Ash & Lacy and invested the proceeds. High Sheriff of Warwickshire, 1938; JP for Warwickshire, 1941. A precise and fastidious but ultimately remote and rather lonely man. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited Packwood House from his father in 1925 and remodelled it. In 1941 he donated the house and gardens to The National Trust, although he continued to occupy the house until 1947. From c.1943 until his death he leased Wingfield Castle (Suffolk) from the Adair family.
He died 20 February 1980; his will was proved 18 March 1980 (estate £839,233).
* Baron is here a forename, not a title.

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p.63; VCH Warwickshire, vol. 5, 1949, pp. 129-32; Sir. N. Pevsner & A. Wedgwood, The buildings of England: Warwickshire, 1966, pp. 370-71; National Trust guidebook, 1989; M. Hall, 'Packwood House, Warwickshire', Country Life, 19 October 1989, pp. 108-13.

Location of archives

No significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Argent, two chevronels sable, the upper one charged with a cross pattée or.

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

• Can you supply an illustration of Packwood before it was restored in the early 20th century?
• Are you able to fill in any of the gaps in the genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Ash (1796-1866) or Joseph Ash (1824-1915)?

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published on 11 December 2015 and was updated 14 December 2015, 7 March 2022 and 27 June 2023.

(198) Ash, later Beresford-Ash, of Ashbrook House

Ash of Ashbrook House

This branch of the Ash family has been settled in Ireland since the 16th century, but like all the other gentry families of this name they trace their origins ultimately to the medieval Ashe family from Devon. It was Thomas Ashe (1529-82), the second son of Nicholas Ashe of Clyst Forynson (Devon) who first moved to Ireland, where he married the daughter of Nicholas Bailey of St. John's Abbey in Co. Meath. Thomas probably had four sons, the eldest of whom, Gen. Sir Thomas Ashe (1567-1626) was active under both Queen Elizabeth and James I in defending the Crown's authority in Ireland, and who was in consequence a major beneficiary of the redistribution of forfeited lands in Ulster. Having no sons to succeed him, he gave many of these properties to his relations, and he settled the lands he received at Cornerrin and elsewhere near Derry on Josias Ashe. Josias, whose relationship to Sir Thomas is uncertain, left the estate to his elder son, John Ashe (d. 1684), who was a merchant in Belfast and served as 'Sovraign' of the borough [i.e. Mayor] in 1646; he married three times and had twenty-four recorded children, although many of them died young. It seems to have been John who first made his home at Cornerrin, which he renamed Ashbrook House, and since his surviving sons were mostly apprenticed to trades in Derry rather than Belfast, this may have been during the Civil War or soon afterwards.

John was dead before King James II's invasion of Ireland took place, but many of his adult children were actively involved in the desperate defence of Derry against the king in 1689, and two of his numerous grandchildren were killed - or at least died - during the siege. Ashbrook had been left not to his eldest son but to George Ash (1679-1729), who was perhaps John's youngest surviving son at the time of his death. George was only five when his father died and only seven when his mother remarried. He was taken to safety in Scotland during the war of 1689 with his mother's other surviving children, and the Ashbrook estate was left in the care of his half-brother, Lt-Col. Thomas Ashe (1660-c.1737), who moved into Derry during the siege and left an account of it which is one of the main sources for understanding events there.  When the King's army gave up the siege in 1689 they burned the homes of many leading Protestants in the vicinity, and Ashbrook would have been lucky to escape this, although there is no family tradition of a rebuilding after the war.

George Ash (the final e being dropped about this time) died aged 50, although not before fathering 17 children, six of whom died young. His heir was his eldest surviving son, George Ash (1712-96), who took a French wife (which may imply that he travelled on the Continent as a soldier or a tourist) but had no issue. He is generally thought to have been responsible for giving the house its present appearance by building the front range with a prominent curved central bow. When his widow died in 1803 the house passed to his nephew, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d. 1821), on condition that he took the name Ash. William's sons were the first members of the family known to have gone to University, and his heir, William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) was a JP for counties Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone, implying that he had significant landholdings in all three counties. He married into the peerage (his wife was a sister of the 17th Earl of Morton) but the couple had only one child, a daughter, Caroline (1830-1901), who married John Barré Beresford (1815-95) of Learmount Castle (Londonderry). In 1883, the combined Ashbrook and Learmount estates amounted to some 12,873 acres in Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone. When John died, the Ashbrook and Learmount estates were again divided, passing to the couple's elder and younger sons respectively. 

Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938) who inherited Ashbrook, was a career soldier who saw extensive service in India and South Africa. He married a daughter of the 5th Marquess of Sligo but they had only one child, Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976), who followed his father into the army and fought throughout the First World War, retiring in 1924. In 1930 he made a late marriage to the youngest daughter of the Earl of Stradbroke, and they also had only one son, John Randal Beresford-Ash (1938-2010), who saw the estate through the dark days of the Troubles, when the good relations he maintained with both the local Catholic and Protestant populations helped to protect the family and its property from unwanted attention. Like his great-great-uncle, he took a French wife, and they had three daughters, all now married, so it would seem that the Ash name will die out in this generation, unless a future owner follows family precedent and adds Ash to their patronymic. The family currently open the house to visitors by appointment and use it as a wedding venue.

Ashbrook House, Co. Londonderry

Ashbrook House: aerial view showing the front block of c.1760 and the probably older ranges behind.
Image: © Neil Jackman/Abarta Heritage.ie

There has been a house on this site (called Cornerrin until c.1690) since at least the middle of the 17th century, and perhaps earlier. It may have been one of the Protestant homes burned by the retreating Jacobite army after their failure to capture Derry in 1689, but the family tradition is of a rebuilding in 1686 rather than after the rebellion. Parts of the back of the house may date from the late 17th century but they have been so altered later that there are no datable features before the 18th century. 

Ashbrook House: a new front range was built about 1760 for George Ash (1712-96)

In the late 18th century (reputedly about 1760) a new front range was built, with a strongly-projecting semicircular bow in the centre; an unusual design although one which was paralleled a little later at nearby Roe Park. The fenestration is unusual, with single windows either side of the bow on the ground floor and two windows above. Despite this solecism, the new front was obviously meant to be fashionable, for the architraves to all the windows and the front door are lavishly treated with Gibbs surrounds in stone.

Ashbrook House: the entrance hall. Image: © Neil Jackman of AbartaHeritage.ie

Ashbrook House: dining room. Image: © Neil Jackman of AbartaHeritage.ie

Ashbrook House, from the 3rd edn OS 6" map.

Inside, the house has relatively simple interiors, made memorable by vivid colours and an accumulation of interesting objects. The doors and window frames have lugged surrounds. The addition of the taller new rooms to the front of the house in the later 18th century means that the first floor bedrooms in this part of the house are approached from the rear by a straight stair leading off a top-lit gallery. 

The estate, which is partly in the glen of the River Faughan, was also landscaped in the 18th century: tree planting is recorded in 1773-76.

Descent: John Ash (fl. 1686)...George Ash (1679-1729); to son, George Ash (1712-96); to nephew, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d.1821); to son, William Hamilton Ash (1801-66); to daughter, Caroline (1830-1901), wife of John Barré Beresford (d. 1895); to son, Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938); to son, Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976); to son, John Randal Beresford-Ash (1938-2010); to daughter, Melanie Anne Helena Charlotte Beresford-Ash (b. 1968), wife of Charles Cunningham.

Ash (later Beresford-Ash) family of Ashbrook

Ashe, Thomas (1529-82). Second son of Nicholas Ashe of Clyst Forynson (Devon), born at Bucknell (Oxon), 1529. He married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Bailey of St. John's Abbey (Meath) and had issue including:
(1) Gen. Sir Thomas Ashe (1567-1626) (q.v.);
(2) Nicholas Ashe of Newtown (Meath); married and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(3) John Ashe (d. 1636); received from his eldest brother the St John's Abbey estate and Talbot's Castle (Meath), Moyvalley and Dromshill (Cavan); married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Case[y] of Chester and had issue one son and one daughter; died 29 April 1636 and was buried at Trim (Meath);
(4) ?Josias Ashe (b. c.1580) (q.v.).

He settled at St John's Abbey (Meath) in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

He died in 1582, aged 53.

Ashe, Gen. Sir Thomas (1567-1626). Son of Thomas Ashe (1529-82), born 1567. He was knighted at Dublin Castle, 25 July 1603, as a reward for his part in suppressing the revolt of the Irish earls; MP for Trim (Meath). He married Elizabeth [surname unknown] (d. 1632) and had issue*:
(1) Anne Ashe; married Rev. Joseph Synge, rector of Manfieldstown and vicar of Dundalk, son of Richard Synge of Bridgnorth (Shropshire) and had issue a son.

He lived at St. John's Abbey near Trim (Meath) and Dromshill (later Ashfield Hall) (Cavan), where he was granted 6,500 acres. He was succeeded in these estates by his younger brother, John Ashe (d. 1636) or, according to some accounts, by his great-nephew, Nicholas Ashe (1608-56) of Moyrath at whose death without issue, they were inherited by his cousin, William Ashe of Summerstown. Sir Thomas was reputedly also granted lands near Londonderry including Cornerrin (later Ashbrook) after the flight of the Earls in 1607, which he gave to his relative Josias Ashe. 

He died 14 October 1626. His widow died in 1632; her will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Ireland in that year.
* Some sources say he died without issue.

Ashe, Josias (b. c.1580). A son or possibly a grandson of Thomas Ashe (1529-82) and his wife Mary Bailey (d. 1629), born about 1600. He married Mary Hogan and had issue including:

(1) John Ashe (d. 1684) (q.v.);
(2) Francis Ashe;
(3) Thomas Ashe (fl. 1680);
(4) Anne Ashe (fl. 1680); married [forename unknown] Harvey;
(5) Susanna Ashe; some sources identify her as the daughter of Josias Ashe baptised at Templemore, 13 December 1642 and as the person who married, 15 October 1657, Edmond Thomas, and as the Widow Ash who was buried 15 May 1671, but these events seem unlikely to all relate to the same person and to be too late to refer to a person of this generation.

He appears to have been given various lands in the environs of Londonderry by his relative, Sir Thomas Ashe, no doubt including Cornerrin (later Ashbrook).

His date of death is unknown.

Ashe, John  (d. 1684). Son of Josias Ashe (b. c.1580) and Mary Hogan, born about 1600. A burgess of Belfast; elected 'Sovraigne' [i.e. Mayor] of Belfast, 1646. He married 1st, Thomasin [surname unknown], 2nd,  c.1655, Sarah Williams (c.1639-68), and 3rd, 1668, Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. W. Holland, and had issue:
(1.1) John Ashe (fl. 1680); inherited Coolofinny from his father; married 1st, Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Ball and had issue four children; he married 2nd, [name unknown] and had issue three further children;
(2.1) Luke Ashe; died at sea without issue;
(2.2) Henry Ashe (d. 1711); tanner; an alderman of Derry and one of the defenders of the city during the siege of 1689; sheriff of Derry, 1687, 1690 and 1694; mayor of Derry, 1696; he married 1st, [name unknown] and had issue one child; he married 2nd, Margaret [surname unknown] and had issue fifteen or sixteen children, many of whom died young; died after 1704; will proved 1711;
(2.3) Elisabeth Ashe; married Thomas Gardiner;
(2.4) Lt-Col. Thomas Ashe (1660-c.1737); educated in Derry city; managed his father's estates from 1684; coroner for Londonderry, 1685; he moved into Derry city at the beginning of 1689 and was an officer in one of the regiments there resisting the siege of 1689, for which his journal (published in 1792) is one of the best sources; he stayed in Derry until 1693 and lived thereafter at Magherafelt (Londonderry) until 1727 and then at Ballymaguigan (Londonderry); high sheriff of Londonderry, 1694; alderman of Derry, 1704-37; JP for Londonderry, 1716-37; officer in a militia regiment from 1715 (Lt-Col., 1724); visited England, 1700, 1710 and 1720; he recorded the genealogy of his family at the end of his life, 1735-37 (published in 1890); married 1st, 13 July 1686, Elizabeth (d. 1688), daughter of Thomas Becke and had issue two daughters; married 2nd, 6 April 1693, Elizabeth (c.1672-1728), daughter of Hugh Rainey of Magherafelt, and had thirteen sons and four daughters; died about 1737, aged 77;
(2.5) Mary Ashe (b. 1661), born 8 May 1661; married 1st, George Stewart (d. 1682) of Inch (Donegal) and had issue a daughter who died during the siege of Derry; married 2nd, 1687, William Browne and had issue four sons (one died young) and six daughters; living in 1735; buried at Muff (Donegal);
(2.6) Susanna Ashe; died young;
(2.7) Sarah Ashe (1665-1726), born 24 April 1665; married 1st, c.1781, John Dougherty (d. 1684), attorney, and had issue one daughter, who died during the siege of Derry, and two other children who died young; she married 2nd, October 1689, Maj. Sam Shaltcross (d. c.1707) and had issue three children, who all died young; lived in Dublin and later Derry after her second husband's death; died in Derry aged 61;
(2.8) Margaret Ashe; died young;
(2.9) George Ashe; married and had issue one son;
(2.10) twin, Josias Ashe (1668-81), born 12 July 1668; died aged 13 and was buried at Muff (Donegal);
(2.11) twin, Capt. James Ashe (1668-1704), born 12 July 1668; apprenticed to his brother Henry, c.1683 and served with him four years; when the Jacobite invasion took place he purchased a commission in the army (Ensign, 1688; Lt., 1690; Capt., c.1691); he had an illegitimate son, who lived in Co. Down; he died unmarried at Barbados, while en route to America with his regiment; will proved 1704;
(3.1) Charity Ash (1669-82), born 23 August 1669 at Coleraine; died of smallpox in 1682 aged 13 and was buried at Clandermont;
(3.2) William Ash (b. 1671), born 18 August 1671; died young;
(3.3) Alexander Ash (b. 1672), born 16 July 1672; died young;
(3.4) Anne Ash (b. 1673), born 8 December 1673; died young;
(3.5) Stephen Ash (alias Holland) (1675-1712), born 26 December 1675; apprenticed to Samuel Leeson of Derry, tanner; had three illegitimate children (including twins by one of Leeson's maids); in business as a tanner in Derry and after his marriage at Liffoy near Coleraine; married Mary (1681-1731), daughter of Edward Edwards MP of Castlegore and had issue four sons and three daughters; got into debt and abandoned his wife and family and went to London and then joined the army; died on campaign, 1712, aged 37;
(3.6) William Ash (b. 1677), born 2 August 1677; died young;
(3.7) Martha Ash (b. 1678), born October 1678; died young;

(3.8) George Ash (1679-1729) (q.v.);
(3.9) Richard Ash (b. 1681), born 12 February 1680/1; died young;
(3.10) Lydia Ash (b. 1682), born 19 February 1681/2; died young;
(3.11) Charity Ash (b. 1683), born 29 July 1683; married, Thomas Lecky (d. 1710), son of Alexander Lecky and had issue eight sons and one daughter; living in 1735;
(3.12) Phillis Ash (b. 1684), born 16 August 1684; educated in Coleraine and Dublin; married, 16 April 1718, Rev. Thomas Warburton (c.1679-1736), rector of Magherafelt and had issue three sons and four daughters; living in Magherafelt in 1752.

He lived at Cornerrin (later Ashbrook) which he inherited from his father; he is said to have built a new house there.

He died in November 1684. His first wife died in childbirth and was buried at Muff (Donegal). His second wife also died in childbirth, July 1668. His widow married 2nd, 6 July 1686, John Cromey and moved to Co. Antrim with the four surviving children of her first marriage; during the war of 1689-90 they moved to Glasgow, returning towards the end of 1690; she died in 1735.

Ash, George (1679-1729). Son of John Ash (d. 1684?) and his third wife Elizabeth Holland, born 17 November 1679. Apprenticed to his half-brother, Henry Ash as a tanner, c.1694, but did not complete his articles. Lieut. to Capt. George Tomkins in the Militia; was burgess in the Corporation of Derry, and served twice as High-Sheriff for the City & County of Londonderry. He married, c.1703, his cousin Mary (1682-1764), daughter of John Rankin of Donegal and had issue:

(1) Jane Ash (b. 1704) (q.v.);

(2) John Ash, (b. 1705); died young;
(3) Sarah Ash (b. 1706); died young;
(4) Elisabeth Ash (b. 1707); died young;
(5) Charity Ash (b. 1709); married Robert Thompson and had issue one son and one daughter;
(6) Mary Ash (1710-67); living in 1735; perhaps the Mary Ash of Ashbrook whose will was proved in 1767;
(7) George Ash (1712-96) (q.v.).
(8) Susanna Ash (b. 1714); living in 1735;
(9) Sophia Ash (b. 1716); living in 1735;
(10) William Ash (b. 1717); living in 1735;
(11) Phillis Ash (b. 1718); died young;
(12) Martha Ash (b. 1719); living in 1735;
(13) Thomas Ash (b. 1721); died young;
(14) Rebecca Ash (b. 1722); died young;
(15) Phillis Ash (b. 1724); probably died young;
(16) Elisabeth Ash (1725-1813); living in 1735; married Henry Hewey (d. 1755) and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 1813 and was buried with her husband at Eglinton;
(17) Lydia Ash (b. 1727); living in 1735.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1684 and came of age in 1700.

He died 25 June 1729. His widow died in 1764.

Ash, George (1712-96). Son of George Ash (1679-1729) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Rankin of Donegal, born 1712. A burgess of Limavady. He married, Anne [surname unknown] (d. 1803), a French lady, but had no issue.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1729, and built the new front onto the house in the late 18th century. He initially intended his nephew George Hewey (whom he educated) as his heir, but they had a dispute about a horse and so Ashbrook was left to another nephew, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d. 1821).

He died 18 October 1796 and his will was proved in December that year. His widow died in 1803; her will was proved in that year.

Ash, Jane (b. 1704). Daughter of George Ash (1679-1729) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Rankin of Donegal, born 1704. She married William Hamilton and had issue including:

(1) William Hamilton (later Hamilton-Ash) (d. 1821) (q.v.).

Her date of death is unknown. Her husband's date of death is unknown.

Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash), William (d. 1821). Son of William Hamilton and his wife Jane, daughter of George Ash of Ashbrook. He assumed the additional surname of Ash on inheriting the Ashbrook estate in 1803. He married, 29 May 1795, Elizabeth Harriet (d. 1805), daughter of [forename unknown] Henderson of Castle Dawson (Londonderry) and had issue:

(1) Ann Hamilton Ash (c.1796-1867); married, 8 March 1824 at St Peter, Dublin, Rev. Thomas William Dixon, a Roman Catholic priest who converted to Anglicanism and became curate of Drogheda; died at Drogheda (Louth), 16 November 1867;
(2) William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) (q.v.);
(3) Rev. George Hamilton Ash (1802-52); educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1822; MA 1832); curate and later rector of Ballyscullion, 1826-49; rector of Cumber Lower, 1849-52; married, 1826, Mary Elizabeth (1804-66), daughter of Rev. Thomas Spotswood and had issue two sons and two daughters; died in Dublin, 28 October 1852;
(4) Jane Hamilton Ash (d. 1848); married, as his second wife, Robert Algar, later collector of customs at Berwick-on-Tweed (Northbld) and had issue; in 1839 when they were living in Drogheda a violent storm blew down their house and they had to be rescued by neighbours; died 31 August 1848.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate after the death of his aunt in 1803.

He died 29 May 1821. His wife died in 1805.

Ash, William Hamilton (1801-66). Son of William Hamilton Ash (d. 1821) of Ashbrook and his wife Elizabeth Harriet Henderson, born 3 May 1801. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1822). JP for Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone; DL for Londonderry, 1837; High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1843; a burgess of Derry by 1836; Chairman of the Famine Relief Committee for Co. Londonderry, 1845-47; President of the Tirkeeran Farming Association, 1839; a Londonderry Bridge Commissioner, 1859-66. He married, 10 July 1827 at Earls Gift (Tyrone), Lady Elizabeth Emma (1794-1857), third daughter of Hon. John Douglas and sister of 17th Earl of Morton, and had issue:

(1) Caroline Hamilton Ash (1830-1901) (q.v.).

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1821, but it was let to Hugh Lyle in the 1820s.

He died 20 November 1866; his will was proved 18 December 1866. His wife died at Earls Gift, 2 February 1857.

Hamilton Ash, Caroline (1830-1901). Only child of William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Emma, daughter of Hon. John Douglas, born 30 September 1830. She married, 7 July 1853, as his second wife, John Barré Beresford (1815-95) of Learmount Castle (Londonderry), eldest son of Henry Barré Beresford of Learmount Castle, and had issue:

(1) Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938) (q.v.);

(2) Emma Clara Beresford (c.1861-1927); married, 20 December 1881, as his second wife, Capt. Francis Coffin Macky JP DL (1847-1920), younger son of James Thompson Macky of Belmont (Londonderry), and had issue a daughter; died 19 November 1927; will proved 21 March 1928 (estate £1,145);

(3) Barbara Caroline Beresford (c.1863-1937); died unmarried, 13 May 1937; administration of goods granted 12 August 1937 (estate £205);

(4) Mary Elizabeth Beresford (1864-1936), born 19 February 1864; married, 6 February 1899, Henry Joseph Cooke (1852-1923), son of Joseph Cooke and had issue one son and two daughters; died in Belfast, 22 January 1936; will proved 21 July 1936 (estate £11,217);

(5) Maj. Marcus John Barré Beresford (1868-1944), of Learmount, born 10 April 1868; an officer in the South Wales Borderers, who served in South Africa; married, 19 December 1914, Alma (d. 1968), daughter of David Methven of London, and had issue one daughter; killed by enemy action, 26 July 1944; will proved 11 January 1945 (estate £10,569);

(6) Louisa Gertrude Douglas Beresford (1870-1941), born 28 September 1870; married, 22 August 1894 at Glendermott (Londonderry), Maj. John Edward Pine-Coffin of Portledge (Devon); died 12 March 1941; will proved 20 November 1941 (estate £1,462).

She inherited the Ashbrook estate from her father in 1866. In 1883 the combined Learmount and Ashbrook estates comprised 12,873 acres in Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone.

She died 13 January 1901 and was buried at Learmount. Her husband died 30 August 1895.

Beresford (later Beresford-Ash), Col. William Randal Hamilton (1859-1938). Eldest surviving son of John Barré Beresford of Learmount Castle and his wife Caroline, daughter of William Hamilton Ash, born 19 July 1859. An officer in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1879; Lt., 1881; Capt., 1885; Adjutant, 1890-94; Maj., 1898; Lt-Col., 1904 and Brevet Col, 1907) who served in India, 1885-86, 1888-90 and 1896-1900 and in South Africa, 1900-01 and was mentioned in despatches, 1886; DL for Co. Londonderry. He assumed the additional surname and arms of Ash by royal licence, 1901. He married, 23 October 1886 at St. Marylebone (Middx), Lady Florence Marion (1863-1946), daughter of Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo, and had issue:

(1) Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976) (q.v.).

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his mother in 1901, but let it initially. His widow lived latterly at Longnor Hall (Shropshire).

He died 8 March 1938; his will was proved 5 July 1938 (estate £6,978). His widow died 22 November 1946; her will was proved 29 April 1947 (estate £3,889).

Beresford-Ash, Maj. Douglas (1887-1976). Only child of Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford-Ash of Ashbrook and his wife Lady Florence Marion, daughter of 5th Marquess of Sligo, born 3 September 1887 in Lucknow (India). Educated at Eton and RMC Sandhurst. An officer in the Royal Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1908; Lt., 1912; Capt., 1915; Adjutant, 2nd Battn, London Regt., 1923; retired as Major, 1924), he was wounded and mentioned in despatches in WW1. DL for Co. Londonderry; High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1950. He married, 17 September 1930 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, Lady (Betty) Helena Joanna (d. 1969), youngest daughter of George Edward John Mowbray Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke, and had issue:

(1) John Randal Beresford-Ash (1938-2010) (q.v.).

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1938.

He died in 1976, aged 89. His wife died 4 November 1969.

J.R. Beresford-Ash

Beresford-Ash, John Randal (1938-2010). Only child of Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976) and his wife Lady (Betty) Helena Joanna, daughter of 3rd Earl of Stradbroke, born in London, 21 January 1938. Educated at Eton. He served in the Irish Guards. High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1976. He married, 27 March 1968 in Paris (France), Agnès Marie Colette, younger daughter of Comte (Jules Marie) Guy de Lamberterie de la Chapelle Montmoreau, of La Truchere, Soane-et-Loire (France), and had issue:

(1) Melanie Anne Helena Charlotte Beresford-Ash (b. 1968), born 9 August 1968; married, 29 September 2001 in St Columb's Cathedral, Londonderry, Charles C. Cunningham, son of Augustine Cunningham of Templemore (Londonderry); now living

(2) Louisa-Jane Marie Caroline Beresford-Ash (b. 1971), born 7 July 1971; married 16 February 2002, at Londonderry Cathedral, Thomas W.E. Leigh, son of Robert Leigh of Hartfield (Sussex); now living;

(3) Angelique Mary Elisa Beresford-Ash (b. 1978); married, 9 May 2009, at Londonderry Cathedral, Dominic Benthall.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1976. He and his wife also owned a house in Burgundy (France).

He died suddenly, 3 April 2010 and was buried at Christ Church, Limavady, 14 April 2010. His widow is now living.

Sources

Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 38-39; H. Tyler, The Ash manuscript, written in the year 1735, by Lt-Col. Thomas Ash, 1890; M. Bence-Jones, A guide to Irish country houses, 2nd edn, 1988, p. 12; www.ashefamily.info;

Location of archives

Beresford-Ash of Ashbrook: miscellaneous legal papers, 1795-1951 [Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, D1550/152]

Coat of arms

Ash of Ashbrook: Argent two chevronnels gules, in the dexter chief a trefoil slipped vert; Beresford of Learmount: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, argent crusilly fitchee three fleurs-de-lis, a bordure engrailed sable (for Beresford); 2nd and 3rd, argent a chief indented sable (for De La Poer), with a crescent for difference.

The Beresford-Ashs quarter the two coats, with the arms of Ash 1st and 4th and those of Beresford 2nd and 3rd.

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

• As so often with Irish families, the genealogical details for earlier generations are sadly deficient and I would be most grateful for any additional information which readers can supply. In particular, it would be helpful to know the dates of death of Jane Ash (b. 1704) and her husband William Hamilton, and the date of birth of their son, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d. 1821).
• Can anyone identify Anne, the French wife of George Ash (1712-96), or explain how they met?
• Can anyone supply images of portraits or photographs of other members of the family?

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 6th December 2015 and was revised 28 January and 21 May 2016 and 3 May 2026.

(197) Asgill of Asgill House, Richmond, baronets

Asgill baronets

Charles Asgill (1714-88) was the son of a London silk merchant, born in Whitechapel in the early months of 1714 and baptised the day before his father was buried. He was apprenticed at the age of 15 to a London banker and after serving his term became a freeman of the city of London and quickly worked his way up through his employer's firm. From 1749 he was an alderman of the Common Council of the City of London and in 1752 he served as sheriff of the city and was knighted. The same year, aged 38, he married Elizabeth Vanderstegen, the much younger daughter of a London merchant of Dutch extraction, who brought him a dowry of £25,000. To attract a bride of such fortune (a dowry that size could have secured her a spouse in the peerage), he must already have been successful and marked for great wealth. He used her dowry to buy a partnership in the bank, which became Vere & Asgill, and in about 1756 he employed Sir Robert Taylor to design for the bank the first purpose-built bank offices in London at 70 Lombard Street (demolished 1915).

The Lord Mayor's state coach, designed by Sir Robert Taylor for Sir Charles Asgill, 1757

Taylor, who became a friend, also designed a grand new coach for Asgill's use in the year he became Lord Mayor of London, 1757-58: this is the over-the-top Rococo fantasy which is still in use for the annual Lord Mayor's Show today. In 1761 Sir Charles Asgill was advanced to a baronetcy, and perhaps with an eye to eventual retirement, he bought a lease from the Crown of a strip of land by the Thames where some of the outbuildings of the decommissioned Richmond Palace still stood. Sir Robert Taylor, who acted for him in the acquisition of the site, also designed the new house which he built there to take full advantage of the views along and across the river. It is one of Taylor's finest villas, and it was also one of his most influential, being published in the fourth volume of Vitruvius Britannicus in 1767. Although smaller than a true country house, it provided a model which influenced much country house building over the next thirty years, and helped to establish the fashion for varied room shapes within a regular classical exterior. Asgill House (first called Richmond House or Richmond Place) was only ever intended as a summer residence, and Sir Charles retained a house in the west end - latterly in Portman Square - as his main home. At his death, when he left a widow, one son and three surviving daughters, he ordered that Asgill House should be let or sold and the proceeds divided between his five dependents, although they benefited far more from other bequests as his estate of some £160,000 was shared out. His son and principal heir, Sir Charles Asgill (1762-1823), 2nd bt., could I suppose have elected to take on the lease and buy out his co-legatees, but he was a career army officer who had little use for a suburban villa. So the association of the Asgills with Asgill House lasted less than thirty years and only one generation, but the importance of the house has persuaded me to write about it here, even though the family does not strictly meet the criteria for this blog!

Asgill House, Richmond, Surrey

Asgill House from an engraving of 1781, showing the house largely open to the river.

A golden stone Palladian villa of great charm and influence which was built in 1761-64 by Sir Robert Taylor as a summer residence for his friend Sir Charles Asgill. The house stands on the site of the brewhouse of the former Richmond Palace, and has admirable views across and along the River Thames. In 1810 a later occupant of the house claimed that it cost between £6,000 and £7,000 to build. The house was known originally as Richmond House or Place and later as Riverside House, before the present name was adopted in the late 19th century.

Asgill House: garden front from Vitruvius Britannicus, 1767

Asgill House: garden front as restored in 1968-69.

The river front is of three wide bays, the centre one of which has a broad canted bay-window of full height, rising to a hipped roof. The wings are lower, with Palladian half-pediments: a device used by Palladio at the Redentore in Venice and elsewhere, and by William Kent for the temple at Euston Hall (Suffolk). At Asgill, Taylor varies the form as the inner and upper pediment is only implied in the shape of the roofline - a paring back of the design that shows Taylor progressing from the Palladian to the neo-classical. The side elevations have one-storey canted bays and the entrance front has a boldly projecting flat centre. 

Asgill House: entrance front and side elevation, 2010. Image: Karen Hearn.

The whole house has a rusticated ground floor with vermiculation around the central arched doorways at front and back, but the external ornament is otherwise very restrained: there are pediments over the central windows, a deeply modelled eaves conice supported on brackets (perhaps inspired by Inigo Jones' St Paul, Covent Garden), blind balustrades below the first-floor windows, and a continuous string course at their sill level that underlines the classical proportions of the whole.

Asgill House: plan from Vitruvius Britannicus, 1767

The interior shows how Taylor excelled at fitting rooms of varied shapes into a compact plan, and Asgill House was indeed the smallest and most ingenious of his suburban villas near London. The service rooms were in a concealed basement. The central room on the river side on both the ground and first floors is octagonal, and flanking this are rectangular rooms on the ground floor, enlarged by the side bays (which are round on the inside). On the entrance front there were originally two small oval rooms, one containing the staircase, flanking a narrow groin-vaulted entrance corridor. The staircase is cunningly fitted into the tiny oval space, with a half-landing on the long side, the angle of the flight exactly calculated to that clears the arched window. At the curved ends there is room only for a single turned baluster to each tread, so tight is the curve. 

Asgill House: staircase landing. Image: A.F. Kersting/Historic England

At the top is a landing of some grandeur, separated by Venetian arches supported on Ionic columns from the groin-vaulted central corridor and the upper staircase. The first floor octagonal room has 18th century panel paintings by Casali which were moved from the dining room in the 19th century. In the adjoining room to the south is a handsome bed recess, with details similar to the landing arches. On the top floor, where only the central rooms have windows, there are two delightful oval rooms with coved ceilings above the octagon, from which there are memorable views over the river.

The house was altered in the 19th century when an outer hall was added to the entrance front and one of the oval rooms on the ground floor was opened into the passage to make a square inner hall. Between 1832 and 1841 the purity of the external design was also compromised by raising the level of the 18th century wings. By the 1960s the house was derelict and at risk, but fortunately it was saved by Fred Hauptfuhrer, an American journalist who took a lease from the Crown Estate and returned the elevations to their original design in 1969-73 with the assistance of Donald Insall. The interior has been restored with some compromises to make the house practical for 20th and 21st century living, so there is now a tall archway from the hall into the staircase, and the ground floor room north of the octagon has become a kitchen.

Descent: Owned by the Crown Estate but held on lease by Sir Charles Asgill (1714-88), 1st bt.; sold after his death to James Whitshed Keene MP (c.1731-1822); sold by 1820 to Mr. Osbaldeston; sold 1822 to Mrs. Palmer (d. 1832); to General Carpenter (fl. 1838); sold 1838 to Benjamin Cohen (fl. 1838-67); sold 1868 to John Philip Trew (fl. 1868-80); sold to James Bracebridge Hilditch (1843-1920); to widow (fl. 1939); sold during WW2 to Henry Ward and H. Stirling Webb; sold 1968 to Fred Hauptfuhrer.

Asgill family of Asgill House, baronets

Asgill, Sir Charles (1714-88), 1st bt. Third son of Henry Asgill (d. 1714), silk merchant, of London and Barford (Oxon) and his wife Annabella Jordan (d. 1756), baptised the day before the burial of his father, 27 March 1713/4 at St Mary, Whitechapel. Educated at Westminster School; apprenticed to William Pepys, goldsmith & banker, 1729-36, and made a freeman of the Skinners Company in the city of London, 21 June 1737 (Master, 1749). A merchant banker in London, who 'from the position of an out-door collecting clerk' at William Pepys & Co. in Lombard Street 'rose progressively by his merit to the first department in the house'. On his first marriage he received a dowry of £25,000 with which he became a partner in the firm of Vere & Asgill, for whom the first purpose-built banking premises in London were designed by Sir Robert Taylor c.1756. He sold the business in 1783 to the Pelican (later the Pheonix) Assurance Co. According to his obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine, he "was a strong instance of what may be effected even by moderate abilities, when united with strict integrity, industry and irreproachable character." He was a Governor of the Bridewell Royal Hospital, 1743-50, and a Common Councilman, 1744-48 and Alderman of London for Candlewick Ward, 1749-77 (Sheriff 1752; Lord Mayor 1757-58). He was knighted during his shrievalty in 1752 and made a baronet (the first such creation by King George III), 16 April 1761. He married 1st,  16 June 1752 at Leyton (Essex), Elizabeth (d. 1754), daughter of Henry Vanderstegen of London, merchant, and 2nd, 12 December 1755 at St Swithin, London Stone, Sarah Theresa (1729-1816), daughter of Daniel Pratviel, secretary to Sir Benjamin Harris, ambassador to Madrid, and had issue:
(1.1) Annabella Asgill (1754-56), born 11 January and baptised at St Swithin, London Stone, 28 January 1754; buried 2 September 1761 at St Bartholomew by the Exchange, London;
(2.1) Amelia Angelina Asgill (1757?-1825); probably to be identified with the 'Engeltie Maria Asgill' born 3 October and baptised at St Swithin, London Stone, 26 October 1757; married, 12 November 1786 at her father's house in Portman Square, Robert Colville of Hemingstone Hall (Suffolk) and had issue four sons; died 12 July 1825 and was buried at Hemingstone; will proved in the PCC, 4 August 1825;
(2.2) Gen. Sir Charles Asgill (1762-1823), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(2.3) (Henrietta/Hariott) Maria Asgill (1767-90), born 30 June and baptised at Westminster, 16 July 1767; died unmarried and was buried at St Marylebone, 6 May 1790, where she was commemorated by a ledger stone installed in May 1791; will proved in PCC, 18 May 1790;
(2.4) Caroline Augusta Asgill (1774-1845), born 5 October and baptised 12 November 1774; married, 5 April 1800 at St Marylebone, Lt-Col. Richard Legge (c.1776-1834) of the Royal Irish Artillery and later of Ninnage Lodge, Westbury-on-Severn (Glos) and had issue; buried at Westbury-on-Severn (Glos), 4 June 1845.
Sir Robert Taylor designed his banking house in Lombard St., London c.1756, a new Lord Mayor's coach for his mayoralty in 1757-58 (the one still in use) and Asgill House in 1761-64. Asgill also occupied 15 St James's Square from 1768-73, which had been altered by Taylor for Peter du Cane; in 1786 his London house was in Portman Square. After his death, Asgill House was sold and the proceeds divided between his widow and children.
He died 15 September and was buried at St. Bartholomew by the Exchange, London, 21 September 1788; his will was proved 20 September 1788 and his wealth at death was assessed as 'upwards of £160,000'. His first wife died 6 February and was buried at the same church, 13 February 1754. His widow died 6 June and was buried at St Marylebone (Middx), 13 June 1816; her will was proved 21 June 1816.

Gen. Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd bt.

Asgill, Gen. Sir Charles (1762-1823), 2nd bt. Only son of Sir Charles Asgill (c.1714-88), 1st bt., and his second wife, Sarah, daughter of Daniel Pratviel, born 6 April 1762 and baptised at St Swithin, London Stone, 3 May 1762. Educated at Westminster School. An officer in the Army, 1778-1812 [Ensign, 1778; Capt., 1781; Lt-Col., 1790; Colonel, 1795; Brigadier, 1797; Maj-General, 1798; Lt-General, 1805; General, 1814]. He served in the American campaigns under Marquess Cornwallis, 1781, but was taken prisoner at the siege of York Town and held until May 1782 when all the captured captains of the army were ordered to draw lots for execution in retaliation for the execution of an American officer; the lot fell on Asgill, and he lived under threat of imminent execution for six months until he was unexpectedly released by an act of Congress passed at the urgent request of the King and Queen of France, who obtained his release after receiving a pathetic appeal from his French mother, directed originally to the comte de Vergennes, the French prime minister. George Washington's letters relating to Asgill were published in 1786 and make it clear that he was to be treated kindly, but in fact he was repeatedly beaten and deprived of food. So badly was he treated that he was eventually permitted to ride his horse to regain his health, and also to have a Newfoundland dog in his room to protect him from his attackers. During one of his rides, with his friend and fellow-prisoner, Major James Gordon, the British tried to recapture Asgill so that he could escape execution, but he refused to dishonour the pledge he had given his enemies and returned to captivity. After being freed, he returned to England on parole and shortly afterwards went to Paris to express his thanks to his saviours, but he declined to thank the Americans. Rumours of his ill treatment as a prisoner, circulated through the press and coffee houses, eventually reached Washington's ears, and he was so angered by the rumours and Asgill's ingratitude, that he ordered the publication of his entire correspondence concerning the affair. Asgill read these accounts and on 20 December 1786 wrote an 18-page letter to the editor of The New Haven Gazette and Chronicle, pointing out that he had been treated with anything but kindness, but the letter was never published and only surfaced in 2007 when it was offered for sale. In 1790 Asgill became equerry to the Duke of York, with whom he served through the campaign in Flanders, and he was active in suppressing the Irish rebellion, 1798. He was captain of the garrison at Dublin Castle, 1800-05. Colonel of the 46th Foot, 1800; 5th West Indian Foot, 1805, 86th Foot, 1806 and 11th Foot, 1807. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 15 September 1788. He married, 28 August 1790 at Martyr Worthy (Hants), Jemima Sophia (c.1771-1819), sixth and youngest daughter of Adm. Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st bt., but had no issue; his wife was a notorious flirt and maintained a lengthy secret correspondence (alas destroyed except for one letter) with Gen. Thomas Graham (1748-1843), 1st Baron Lynedoch, perhaps among other admirers. He himself had a mistress of long standing, with whom he co-habited from about 1821: Mary Ann Goodchild alias Mansel (1780-1854), who was also mistress to Gen. Sir Robert Manners (by whom she had six further children), by whom he had issue:
(X1) Charles Childs (1816-84), born before 6 May 1816; lived with his mother; married, probably by 1848, Elizabeth (1823-95), daughter of George Hayward of Cranbrook (Kent) and had issue four sons and seven daughters; died in the lunatic asylum at Barming Heath, near Maidstone (Kent), 6 May 1884, and was buried with his mother at Loose (Kent), 12 May 1884.
He lived in London, and was at 29 Old Burlington St., London, 1778-85 and made his will at York St., St. James' Square, London.
He died 23 July  1823, when the baronetcy became extinct, and was buried at St James, Piccadilly, 1 August 1823; his will was proved 9 August 1823. His widow was also buried at St James, Piccadilly, 5 June 1819; administration of her goods was granted May 1824.

Sources

Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 2nd edn., 1841, pp. 14-15; G.E. Cokayne, Complete baronetage, vol. 5, 1906, pp. 120-21; B. Cherry & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: London 2, South, 1983, pp. 524-6; M. Binney, Sir Robert Taylor, 1984, passim; A. Ammundsen, 'Saving Captain Asgill', History Today, December 2011, pp. 38-43; A. Ammundsen & M. Abel, 'Saving Captain Asgill', The Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Journal, vol. 120, no. 3, Winter 2019; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry on Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd bt.

Since this account was written, Anne Ammundsen has published The Charles Asgill Affair: setting the record straight, 2023, which may be of interest to readers of this article. The code ASGILL gives a discount in the UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand. Billing is in £ sterling for UK purchasers since the book is also printed and delivered in the UK.

Location of archives

Asgill of Asgill House: Some papers of Gen. Sir Charles Asgill will be found among the records of the Colville family [Derbyshire Record Office D461].

Coat of arms

Per fess Argent and Vert a pale counter-changed, in each piece of the first a lion head erased Gules

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 2 December 2015 and updated 28 August 2016, 8-9 August 2018, 12 December 2019, 18 September 2021 and 17 July 2023. I am most grateful to Andrew Morrison and Anne Ammundsen for additional information.