Ashe Windham (17 February 1673 – 4 April 1749), of Felbrigg, Norfolk, was an English landowner and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. ...

from 1708 to 1710.

Life

Windham was the eldest son of William Windham of

Felbrigg Felbrigg is a small village just south of Cromer in Norfolk, England.''OS Explorer Map 24'' (Edition A 1997) – ''Norfolk Coast Central''. . The Danish name means a 'plank bridge'. Historians believe that the original village was clustered aro ...

(died 1689) and his wife Katherine Ashe, daughter of

Sir Joseph Ashe, 1st Baronet Sir Joseph Ashe, 1st Baronet (16 February 1617 – 15 April 1686) was an English Whig politician and merchant. He was born into a rising and prominent family of industrialists from Somerset, and was the third surviving son of James Ashe Esquir ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. His maternal uncle was Sir James Ashe, 2nd Baronet and his brothers were

William Windham William Windham (4 June 1810) of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, was a British Whig statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1784, Windham was attached to the remnants of the Rockinghamite faction of Whigs, whose members included his friends Charles J ...

and Joseph Windham Ashe. The Windham family had had a seat at

Felbrigg Hall Felbrigg Hall is a 17th-century English country house near the village of that name in Norfolk. Part of a National Trust property, the unaltered 17th-century house is noted for its Jacobean architecture and fine Georgian interior. Outside i ...

since the mid-15th century. Whilst at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

he succeeded his father in 1689. After attending

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, he took a

grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

round Italy between 1693 and 1696. In 1708, he was due to marry Hester Buckworth, but she died, and a year later, in summer 1709, he married a wealthy heiress, Elizabeth Dobyns, the daughter and heir of William Dobyns of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

Parliamentary career

Windham was first considered as a parliamentary candidate in 1699, for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

(his father had unsuccessfully run for it in 1679 as a Whig). However, according to

Humphrey Prideaux Humphrey Prideaux (3 May 1648 – 1 November 1724) was a Cornish churchman and orientalist, Dean of Norwich from 1702. His sympathies inclined to Low Churchism in religion and to Whiggism in politics. Life The third son of Edmond Prideaux, he was ...

, his grand tour counted against him: Windham stepped down from the 1705 election campaign in favour of his friend and cousin Roger Townshend, whom he replaced at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...

, contesting the seat unopposed and becoming the first of his family to sit in Parliament. That year he was said to possess "as great estate as any commoner in the country". Windham was one of the main MPs behind an unsuccessful address to Queen Anne on 25 January 1709 requesting that she remarry. He voted for the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709 and for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. He and Robert Walpole II stood for Norfolk at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

but were defeated and he declined to stand again in 1713.

Later life and legacy

Windham's marriage failed, and after the birth of a son in 1717, the couple parted. He retired to Felbrigg to manage his estates and look after the education of his son. He also had one illegitimate daughter. A portrait of Windham by Sir

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to Kingdom of England, English and Br ...

is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and held at Felbrigg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windham, Ashe 1673 births 1749 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Norfolk British MPs 1708–1710 People from Felbrigg