Jonathan Rashleigh (7 January 1820 – 12 April 1905) was an English landowner, local politician, and collector and numismatist of some repute.

Biography

Jonathan Rashleigh was born 7 January 1820 at Wilsford,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, the second son of William Rashleigh, who in 1811 had inherited the Menabilly estate and sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for the

Pocket Borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act of 1832, which had a very small electo ...

of Fowey from 1812 to 1817. At the time of Jonathan's birth, William was

Sheriff of Cornwall Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list: The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriff ...

. Rashleigh was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

, for which he played cricket, and at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, matriculating 1839 and graduating

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1842. He married on 1 August 1843 Mary Pole Stuart, daughter of William Stuart, a British

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

politician, and the couple lived in Cumberland Terrace,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

, London. Rashleigh appears to have lived as a gentleman of leisure, dedicating his time in part to his interest in

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

. The couple had five children, but Mary died in 1852. Rashleigh served as a member of the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

for St Pancras, and as a member of the Metropolitan Asylums Board. He remarried 3 August 1869 to Jane Elizabeth Pugh, an heiress to a considerable Irish fortune, daughter of Arthur Pugh of Lissmore. The couple lived in Fortfield House,

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 13,258 in 2021, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has ...

, Devon, and in 1871 purchased the Feniton Court estate near

Honiton Honiton () is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, Devon, River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 12,154 (based on 2021 census). History The ...

, Devon. On 3 October 1871, Rashleigh's elder brother, William Rashleigh, who had inherited Menabilly in 1855, died without issue, and so that estate now passed to Jonathan Rashleigh. In addition the couple inherited lands at Lissmore, Ireland. Retaining all of these estates, the couple moved to Menabilly; they had four further children. The Menabilly estate had been in the

Rashleigh family Rashleigh is a surname of a prominent family from Cornwall and Devon in south western Britain, which originated in the 14th century or before at the estate of Rashleigh, Wembworthy, Rashleigh in the parish of Wembworthy, Devon. The principal bra ...

since the 16th-century; in the ''

Return of Owners of Land, 1873 The two-volume ''Return of Owners of Land, 1873'' is a survey of land ownership in the United Kingdom. It was the first complete picture of the distribution of land ownership in Great Britain since the Domesday Book of 1086, thus the ''1873 Ret ...

'', a survey of British landholdings, Menabilly was the largest private estate in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

of or 3.97% of the total area of the county. Once at Menabilly, Jonathan Rashleigh turned his attention to botany and horticulture, notably by developing the estate gardens. He served as Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall, was its High Sheriff in 1877, and was a county magistrate. He died at Menabilly on 12 April 1905.

Cricket

Rashleigh was, briefly, a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er active in the early 1840s, making four appearances in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

. His batting and

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

styles are unknown. He made his debut in

in 1841 for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

against the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) at the Magdalen Ground, Oxford. He made three further first-class appearances for the university in 1842, playing twice against the MCC and once in

The University Match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

against

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. He scored a total of 42 runs with a high score of 20, while with the ball he took two wickets.

References

External links

Jonathan Rashleigh
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Jonathan Rashleigh
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Rashleigh, Jonathan 1820 births 1905 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Cricketers from Wiltshire English numismatists Deputy lieutenants of Cornwall High sheriffs of Cornwall