ASHBY, Thomas (?1694-1743), of Piggot’s Hill, Herts.

After declining to stand for St. Albans at a by-election in 1732,St. Albans and Herts. Arch. Soc. Trans. v(3), p. 301. Ashby was returned for it in 1734 with the support of the Duchess of Marlborough, to whom he wrote on 27 Apr:

As my election was secured to me by your Grace’s favour, you’ll forgive me, Madam, that I take the liberty to trouble you with all the return in my power, a grateful sense of your goodness to me, and a resolution to be honest and active with my best capacity for the true interest of my county.Marlborough mss.

A Tory — his younger brother joined the Young Pretender at Dunkirk in 1744Stuart mss 256/26, 71. — he voted against the Administration in both the recorded divisions of that Parliament. In 1741 he threw over the Duchess and was re-elected unopposed though ‘not able to spend £5’,Thos. Rudd to Jas. West, 2 Oct. 1755, Add. 34734, f. 109. voting with the Opposition on the chairman of the elections committee. He died 29 Jan. 1743.