Sgt. John Ashby’s Heritage
In order to understand some of the story of the Ashby family I am providing a family tree indentifying the parents, Robert Ashby (1743-1783) and Elizabeth Yardley (1744-1783), and the siblings of Sgt. John Ashby. I have done a little research on this family but there is much more to do. This is one of the ancient families of England and the family has been well documented in records through the centuries. I was able, with much effort, to identify John Ashby’s lineage back to Brittany in France where they were a prominent family in the history of both France and England. I will not live long enough to verify and add details to the work I have done to complete this research so if anyone is interested in picking up where I left off, I will share the work I have done.
As a result of their prominence in history, the family had a long-time relationship with the military. The commissions of both John and his brother Robert would indicate that down through the centuries, some retained the resources required to obtain the status of officer.
Robert’s father, and John’s grandfather, Robert Ashby (1710-1786) was a farmer and a Quaker at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Jumping further back in the tree, William Ashby (1637-1702) was born at Quenby Hall, Hungarton, Leicestershire, England. Robert Ashby II (1517-1557) was born as Ashby Castle, Quenby, Leicestershire, England and died at Quenby Hall, Hungarton, Leicestershire. William Ashby (1300-1365) was born at Brooksby, Leicestershire, England and died at Quenby Leicestershire, England. Alan de Ashby de la Zouche, 1st baron of Ashby was born in Rohan, Morbihan, Bretagne, France and died in North Molton, Devon, England. The records reach back to Guithenoc la Zouche, Vicount Porhoet (990-1040) in France.
Quenby Hall – Ashby Family
“”Quenby Hall is just south of Hungarton, about 7 miles (11.3 km) east of the centre of Leicester and is best reached from the A47 road by taking the turn towards Hungarton at the village of Billesdon.
Ashby family
“The Ashby family acquired an estate in Quenby in the 13th century. By 1563 they had acquired the whole Manor, and soon afterwards moved to enclose and depopulate it.
“Quenby Hall was built between 1618 and 1636 by George Ashby (1598–1653), High Sheriff of Leicestershire for 1627. The village of Quenby was held by the Ashby family from the 13th century and remains of the village are in the present park. The village population was at least 25 in 1377 based on poll tax data. There may have been a house on the site before this building of the current house which began in 1618. A clock, on the west front, is dated 1620. Building finished in 1636. The house is ‘H-shaped’ and on a hillside location. It has three stories and a very shallow pitched roof.
“George Ashby was succeeded by his son, also George, who married the daughter of Euseby Shuckburgh of Naseby, Northamptonshire. Their son George, MP for Leicestershire, was known as ‘Honest George Ashby the Planter’ because of the large number of trees he planted at Quenby. He died in 1728, and in the mid-18th century Quenby Hall passed to his great-nephew Shukburgh Ashby (died 1792), MP for Leicester and Fellow of the Royal Society. Quenby Hall remained in the Ashby family until 1904.
Ashby de la Zouch Castle
“Ashby de la Zouch Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. During the English Civil War of the 1640s, Henry, a younger son in the Hastings family, became a Royalist commander in the Midlands. He based himself out of the castle until he was forced to surrender it after a long siege. The town and castle came into the possession of the Hastings family in 1464 and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings enhanced its fortifications from 1473. In the English Civil War, the town was one of the Cavaliers‘ chief garrisons under the control of Colonel Henry Hastings, 1st Baron Loughborough and commander of the North Midlands Army. When the town fell after a long siege in March 1646, it was counted a great relief to the surrounding towns and villages. A fresh rebellion occurred in 1648, leading Parliament to slight the castle in order to prevent it being used militarily: the two towers were severely damaged with gunpowder and undermining. Parts of the remaining castle were turned into a new house and continued to be used by members of the Hastings family for many years, although they moved their main residence to Donington Hall.
“Constructed on the site of an older manor house, two large towers and various smaller buildings had been constructed by 1483, when Hastings was executed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The Hastings family used the castle as their seat for several generations, improving the gardens and hosting royal visitors.
“Ashby de la Zouch, sometimes hyphenated as Ashby-de-la-Zouch, (/ˈæʃbi də lə ˈzuːʃ/) and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire borders.
“The town was known as Ashby in 1086. This is a word of Anglo–Danish origin, meaning “Ash-tree farm” or “Ash-tree settlement”. The Norman French name extension dates from the years after the Norman conquest of England, when Ashby became a possession of the La Zouche family during the reign of Henry III.
Castle Ashby
“Castle Ashby is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. Historically the village was set up to service the needs of Castle Ashby House, the seat of the Marquess of Northampton. The village would have gathered around the St Mary Magdalene church which is adjacent to the House and which predates the House by some 400 years. It may have been used by the Bishops of Coventry whose seat this was before the advent of the Comptons in the 16th century. Most of the village’s homes are centuries old and sit nestled in the grounds of the grand house, where many of the residents would have worked while it was still an operating stately home.
“The house at Castle Ashby was given a “castle” license for Walter Langton, Bishop of Coventry way back in 1306, but the house was totally rebuilt into the Elizabethan manor house that it is today by Henry Compton and then by his son, William.
“The estate was visited by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 and then again by King James I five years later, at which point there were 83 servants, four chaplains, three musicians and a gardener – so looking after the house was a major operation.
From NorthantsLive and Wikiwand