Thomas Ashburnham, 6th Earl of Ashburnham (8 April 1855 – 12 May 1924) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and peer, the last

Earl of Ashburnham Earl of Ashburnham (pronounced "Ash-''burn''-am"), of Ashburnham in the County of Sussex, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1730 for John Ashburnham, 3rd Baron Ashburnham, who was also created Viscount St Asaph, in Wales. ...

Early life

Thomas Ashburnham was the fifth of seven sons born to

Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (23 November 1797 – 22 June 1878) was a British peer. He was the fourth son of George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham. As the eldest son still living when his father died in 1830, he succeeded as ...

, by his wife, Lady Catherine Charlotte Baillie. His eldest brother, also named Bertram, succeeded to the title as 5th Earl in 1878. Ashburnham was educated at

Adams Grammar School Haberdashers' Adams is a grammar school for boys aged 11–18 and girls aged 16–18, located in Newport, Shropshire, offering day and boarding education. Current (2021) boarding fees are £12,144 per year and £13,644 per year for overseas stud ...

Newport, Shropshire Newport is a constituent market town in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It lies north of Telford, west of Stafford, and is near the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. The 2001 census recorded 10,814 people living in the town's paris ...

, before going up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

Military career

Commissioned into the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, Ashburnham was posted to South Africa as a Lieutenant in 1881. He later saw active service as in the British Expeditionary Force during the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt (1882), also known as Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

of 1882 and was promoted to Captain. From 1885 to 1886 he served as aide-de-camp to the Earl of Aberdeen while he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. After that, he was stationed for several years in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Ashburnham retired from the Army as a Captain in 1899.

Marriage and life in Fredericton

In 1901, aged 45, Thomas Ashburnham went out to Canada, where he stayed in a hotel in Fredericton, New Brunswick. While there, he made several telephone calls from local taverns to a livery stable for a horse and carriage to take him home at the end of the evening, and thus became acquainted with Maria Anderson, the night switchboard operator at the New Brunswick Telephone Company. Infatuated by her pleasant voice and friendly manner, Ashburnham asked to meet her in person, and they got on so well that in early 1903 they were engaged to be married. Their marriage took place on 10 June 1903 at St. Anne's Parish Church, Fredericton. Captain Ashburnham bought two houses on Brunswick Street, Fredericton, one of which had been his wife's family home, and the other an inn, and had them connected by a second floor conservatory over a porte-cochere leading to a garden. The resulting residence was called Ashburnham House. The couple lived comfortably on a large allowance from the Ashburnham family, but had no children.

Earl of Ashburnham

The 5th Earl of Ashburnham died in Paris on 15 January 1913, without a son and having outlived all his younger brothers except Thomas, who accordingly succeeded to the peerages of Earl of Ashburnham and Viscount St. Asaph, with a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

, and to his family's settled estates. These included Ashburnham Place in Sussex and extensive estates in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The new peer very soon left for England to settle his brother's affairs and take up his new responsibilities. He returned to Canada in the spring, leaving again with his wife, now Lady Ashburnham, on 15 May 1913. They took up residence at Ashburnham Place, but remained in England for only thirteen months before returning to Fredericton in June 1914. They took with them several English servants, as well as family furnishings and heirlooms, for their Fredericton residence. Lord and Lady Ashburnham continued to live at Ashburnham House in Fredericton for the next ten years, during which they were leaders of the town's social life and generous patrons of charitable causes. On 26 April 1924, Lord and Lady Ashburnham left Fredericton, taking passage on the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...

r "SS Regina" to make a six-month visit to England. However, during the trans-Atlantic journey Ashburnham became ill with a cold and developed

bronchial pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity of ...

. He died on 12 May 1924 in London and was buried in the family vault at the parish church of Ashburnham. As he had no male heir, his peerages became extinct. In his will, Lady Ashburnham was left a life annuity of £2,300, and Ashburnham House in Fredericton. She lived until 9 October 1938. The Ashburnham properties in Great Britain, including Ashburnham Place, were inherited by the 5th Earl's daughter, Lady Catherine Ashburnham.www.burkespeerage.com
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashburnham, Thomas Ashburnham, 6th Earl of Earls of Ashburnham 1855 births 1924 deaths People educated at Adams' Grammar School People from Ashburnham, East Sussex