Henry Ashley (MP for Dorset)
Sir Henry Ashley was an English politician.
He was the son of Henry Ashley of Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset, and succeeded his father in 1549. He was knighted in 1553.Career
He was deputy vice-admiral for Dorset from 1551 to 1582 and keeper of the manor and forest of Holt from 1555 to 1566. He was a Justice of the Peace for Dorset from 1554, and for Wiltshire from 1562 and was appointed Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset for 1555–56 and 1564–65. He was commissioner for piracy for Dorset in 1565, deputy lieutenant by 1577 and colonel of musters, in 1587.
He was a Member of Parliament for Dorset in 1554 and 1563 and for Shaftesbury in 1547.In 1547, he married Katharine Basset, a servant to Queen Anne of Cleves, the second daughter of Sir John Basset, KB, of Tehidy in Cornwall and Umberleigh in Devon by his second wife, Honor Grenville, a daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton, Cornwall, and lord of the manor of Bideford in North Devon, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1481 and in 1486.
By Katharine he had two sons including:
- Henry Ashley, eldest son and heir, MP.
