
Philip Rashleigh (28 December 1729 – 26 June 1811) of
Menabilly, Cornwall, was an antiquary and
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
and a Cornish squire. He collected and published the
Trewhiddle
Trewhiddle is a small settlement in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies in the civil parish of Pentewan Valley and the parish, ecclesiastical parish of St Austell. The nearest town is St Austell, approximately one mile to the north.
...
Hoard of
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
treasure, which still gives its name to the "Trewhiddle style" of 9th century decoration.
Origins
He was born at
Aldermanbury, City of London, on 28 December 1729,
the eldest son and heir of
Jonathan Rashleigh (1693–1764), of Menabilly, MP for
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
in Cornwall, by his wife Mary Clayton, daughter of
Sir William Clayton, 1st Baronet (died 1744) of Marden Park in Surrey. (see:
Woldingham)
Career

He matriculated from
New College, Oxford
New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...
, 15 July 1749, and contributed to the poems of the university on the death of
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales (Frederick Louis, German: ''Friedrich Ludwig''; 31 January 1707 – 31 March 1751) was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen C ...
, a set of English verses, which is reprinted in Nichols's ''Select Collection of Poems'' (viii. 201–2); he left Oxford without taking a degree. On the death of his father in 1764 he inherited the family seat of
Menabilly, near
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
on the south coast of Cornwall.
He also took over from him in Parliament as the
elected member for the family borough of
Fowey
Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...
on 21 January 1765, sitting continuously, in spite of contests and election petitions, until the dissolution of 1802, by which time he was known as the "
Father of the House of Commons
Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously ...
". His knowledge of Cornish
mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
procured his election as a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries and
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1788.
Portrait
A portrait of Rashleigh, seated in a chair, was painted by
John Opie
John Opie (16 May 1761 – 9 April 1807) was a British painter whose subjects included many prominent men and women of his day, members of the British royal family and others who were notable in the artistic and literary professions.
Early ca ...
about 1795, and is now in the
Royal Cornwall Museum
The Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, formerly known as the Royal Cornwall Museum, is a museum in Truro, England, which holds an extensive mineral collection rooted in Cornwall's mining and engineering heritage (including much of the mineral coll ...
,
Truro
Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
.
[R. J. Cleevely, 'Rashleigh, Philip (1729–1811)', ]Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 4 Dec 2007
/ref> It is a "fine specimen of the painter's best period".
Scientific work
Rashleigh's collection of minerals was remarkable for its various specimens of tin. Much is on display at the Royal Cornwall Museum
The Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, formerly known as the Royal Cornwall Museum, is a museum in Truro, England, which holds an extensive mineral collection rooted in Cornwall's mining and engineering heritage (including much of the mineral coll ...
, with portions at the Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...
,[Copperores more information]
/ref> and its most valuable portions are described in two volumes of ''Specimens of British Minerals'' from his cabinet (1797 and 1802). In the same collection are models in glass of the hailstones that fell on 20 October 1791, particulars of which, with the figured representations, are given, on Rashleigh's information, in King's ''Remarks on Stones fallen from the Clouds'', pp. 18–20. He contributed antiquarian papers to the ''Archæologia'', ix. 187–8, xi. 83–4, xii. 414, but they were derided by Dr. John Whitaker as the work of an "amateur in antiquarianism". A paper by him on certain "alluvial deposits" at Sandrycock, Cornwall, is in the ''Transactions'' of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall
The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is a geological society originally based in Penzance, Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1814 to promote the study of the geology of Cornwall, and is the second oldest geological society in ...
, ii. 281–4, and a letter from him to E. M. Da Costa, on some English shells, is in the British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
Addit. MS. 28541, f. 196. He constructed a remarkable grotto
A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess.
Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide.
Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden fea ...
at Polridmouth, near the family seat. In 1791 and 1792, Rashleigh sold 41 specimens from his collection to the Austrian collector Éléonore de Raab.[ ''Information about Raab is included in section 9, about the catalogue of her collection'']
Rashleigh was a regular correspondant with John Hawkins, patron of Martin Heinrich Klaproth
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1 December 1743 – 1 January 1817) was a German chemist. He trained and worked for much of his life as an apothecary, moving in later life to the university. His shop became the second-largest apothecary in Berlin, and ...
, and William Gregor
William Gregor (25 December 1761 – 11 June 1817) was a British clergyman and mineralogist who discovered the elemental metal Titanium.
Early years
He was born at the Trewarthenick Estate in Cornwall, the son of Francis Gregor and Mary C ...
, discoverer of Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
. They bought and sold minerals, patronised leading chemists and introduced european geological theories into the British Isles. Cleevely (2000) called these the "Trio of Cornish Geologists".
Marriage
He married his first cousin, Jane Pole (1720–1795), only daughter of the Rev. Carolus Pole, 3rd son of Sir John Pole of Shute, Devonshire. They had no issue, and the family estates passed to his nephew William Rashleigh (1777–1855), MP for Fowey (1812–18) and 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 ...
for 1820.[Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp. 1891–3, Rashleigh of Menabilly]
Death and burial
He died at Menabilly on 26 June 1811 and was buried in the church of Tywardreath
Tywardreath (; , meaning "House on the Beach" (or Strand)) is a small hilltop village on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, about north west of Fowey. It is located in a sheltered spot overlooking a silted-up estuary opposite ...
, Cornwall.
See also
* William Gregor
William Gregor (25 December 1761 – 11 June 1817) was a British clergyman and mineralogist who discovered the elemental metal Titanium.
Early years
He was born at the Trewarthenick Estate in Cornwall, the son of Francis Gregor and Mary C ...
* John Hawkins
* Martin Klaproth
References
;Attribution
External links
Mineralogical Record gallery of illustration of the Rashleigh collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashleigh, Philip
1729 births
1811 deaths
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Mineralogists from Cornwall
British antiquarians
Politicians from Cornwall
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
People from Fowey
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Fowey
British MPs 1761–1768
British MPs 1768–1774
British MPs 1774–1780
British MPs 1780–1784
British MPs 1784–1790
British MPs 1790–1796
British MPs 1796–1800
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fowey
UK MPs 1801–1802
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...
Burials in Cornwall
Geologists from Cornwall