Sir Ralph Assheton, 2nd Baronet, of Lever (ca. 160530 January 1680) was an English 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. ...

at various times between 1625 and 1680. Assheton was the son of Sir Ralph Assheton, 1st Baronet of Lever, Lancashire and his wife Dorothy Bellingham, daughter of Sir James Bellingham of Levens, Westmorland.History of Parliament Online - Assheton, Sir Ralph
/ref> He matriculated from

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

at Easter 1623. He was admitted at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

on 7 May 1624. He was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

in 1625 and was re-elected in 1626. He was appointed

Sheriff of Lancashire The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Sheriff, High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High She ...

for 1633. In April 1640, Assheton was elected MP for Clitheroe in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. He was re-elected in November 1640 as MP for Clitheroe in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. He succeeded his father to the Assheton baronetcy on 18 October 1644 and to the family's

Downham Downham is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It borders the London Borough of Bromley, and is located north of Bromley and south of Catford. Downham was named in honour of Lord Downham, who was ...

estate near Clitheroe. (Great Lever, the family's original home, had been sold by his father in 1629.) In 1660 Assheton was re-elected MP for Clitheroe for the Convention Parliament and again in 1661 for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

but was unseated on petition in February 1662. He was re-elected MP for Clitheroe in 1679 a year before his death. He built the vault beneath the Assheton chapel at St Leonard's Church, Downham and endowed a sermon on the resurrection to be preached an annually on the anniversary of his death.Parish Church of St Leonard, Downham
/ref> He married twice; firstly Lady Dorothy Tufton, the daughter of

Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet (1578–1631) was an English peer. Nicholas Tufton was the son of Sir John Tufton, and Christian Browne, the daughter of Sir Humphrey Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, by Agnes Hussey, the daughter of Joh ...

and secondly Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Sapcotes Harrington of Rand, Lincolnshire with whom he had one son, who died before him. Assheton died at the age of 75. He was succeeded by his brother

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assheton, Ralph 1600s births 1680 deaths Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Lancashire Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge High Sheriffs of Lancashire Baronets in the Baronetage of England English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679