Montague Ainslie (28 April 1792 – 1 February 1884) was an English

forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

and businessman whose interests included the iron ore company

Harrison Ainslie The firm of Harrison Ainslie & Co. was a British firm of ironmasters and iron ore merchants, selling high quality haematite from their mines on Lindal Moor to smelters in Glasgow, Scotland, South Wales and the Midlands. From a 21st-century persp ...

Early life and education

Son of

Henry Ainslie Henry Ainslie (21 March 1760 – 1834) was a physician. He was the son of the Kendal physician James Ainslie. Educated at Hawkshead Grammar School and then Pembroke College, Cambridge (where he graduated Senior Wrangler and was second in the Sm ...

, MD, and Agnes, daughter of William Ford, of Coniston Water Head and Grizedale, Ainslie was educated at

Hawkshead Grammar School Hawkshead Grammar School in Hawkshead, Cumbria, England was founded in 1585 by Archbishop Edwin Sandys, of York, who petitioned a charter from Queen Elizabeth I to set up a governing body. The early School taught Latin, Greek and sciences, includi ...

and at

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. It w ...

, later studying at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) near Hertford in England. It is a member of the Rugby Group and, though originally a major boys' public school in the Victorian era, it is now co-educational, enro ...

Activities

Ainslie worked in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

at Bengal from 1807 to 1840, including as political agent at Blundlecund. On leaving the Indian Civil Service, Ainslie became a partner in the ironworks of Messrs Harrison and Ainslie, at Ulverston. On inheriting the Grizedale Estate from his parents, in 1841 he converted Ford Lodge into a larger residence, which became known as Grizedale New Hall. He continued his parents' work of planting vast numbers of

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

trees in the valley, expanding the development and growth of

Grizedale Forest Grizedale Forest is a 24.47 km2 area of woodland in the Lake District of North West England, located to the east of Coniston Water and to the south of Hawkshead. It is made up of a number of hills, small tarns and the settlements of Grizeda ...

. He built Ford House in

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

for his son,

William George Ainslie William George Ainslie JP (9 January 1832 – 10 February 1893) was a British Conservative politician, magistrate, ironmaster and stockbroker. Early life Born in 1832 in Bengal, India, and educated at Sedbergh School,Obituary of William George ...

; when William moved to London, Montague used Ford House as a town house from which to manage his business interests which included

, another iron company, and also an operator of shipping from Ulverston. He served as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire in 1852.

Marriages and children

Ainslie married firstly, in 1818, Sophia Mary, daughter of George Poyntz Ricketts. Their children included the barrister and first-class cricketer Montague Ainslie and businessman and politician

. In 1834, he married secondly Mary Ann, daughter of Colin Campbell, MD, physician-general in Bengal.The County Families of the United Kingdom, fifth edition, Edward Walford, pub. Robert Hardwicke (Piccadilly), 1869, p. 9

References

1790 births 1884 deaths Deputy Lieutenants of Lancashire English foresters People educated at Hawkshead Grammar School People educated at Sedbergh School People educated at Charterhouse School People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College English ironmasters 19th-century English businesspeople {{England-business-bio-stub