Evelyn Ashley

Anthony Evelyn Melbourne Ashley was born on 24 July 1836 and died on 16 November 1907. He was a British barrister and a member of the Liberal political party. Ashley served as private secretary to Lord Palmerston and later authored a biography of him.

He was the third child and second son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, and Lady Emily Cowper. Lady Emily was the eldest daughter of Peter Cowper, the 5th Earl Cowper, and the sister of William Cowper-Temple, the 1st Baron Mount Temple. Ashley received his education at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1888, upon the death of William Cowper-Temple, Ashley inherited a 10,000-acre estate on the Mullaghmore Peninsula in Sligo, Ireland, which included Classiebawn Castle. He spent part of each year residing on this estate.

Ashley’s professional career included serving as private secretary to Lord Palmerston from 1858 to 1865. After completing his education, he practiced law as a barrister on the Oxford Circuit from 1865 until 1874. In the political arena, Ashley was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), representing Poole from 1874 to 1880, and then the Isle of Wight from 1880 to 1885. During this period, he held several governmental positions, including Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1880 to 1882 and Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1882 to 1885, under Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. He also served as an Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioner from 1880 to 1885, was a Verderer of the New Forest, and became High Sheriff of Sligo in 1889.

In 1891, Ashley was sworn into the Privy Council. He was an author of the biography "Life of Lord Palmerston." His attempted return to elected office included runs as a candidate for the Liberal Unionist Party in the Glasgow Bridgeton by-election in 1887 and the Ayr Burghs by-election in 1888, both of which were unsuccessful.

Ashley’s family life included his marriage to Sybella Charlotte Farquhar, daughter of Sir Walter Farquhar, 3rd Baronet, on 28 July 1866. They had two children: Wilfred William Ashley (later known as Baron Mount Temple), born in 1867 and died in 1939; and Lillian Blanche Georgiana Ashley, born in 1875 and died in 1939. Wilfred married Amalia Mary Maud Cassel, daughter of financier Sir Ernest Cassel. After the death of his first wife in 1911, Ashley married Muriel Emily ("Molly") Forbes-Sempill in 1914, who was the former wife of Rear-Admiral The Hon. Arthur Forbes-Sempill. Muriel was the daughter of Rev. Walter Spencer and sister of Margery, Viscountess Greenwood. Lillian married Hercules Pakenham.

Following the death of his first wife Sybella in 1886, Ashley married Lady Alice Cole, daughter of William Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen, on 30 June 1891. They had one son, Anthony Henry Evelyn Ashley, born in 1895. He was educated at Harrow and Magdalen College and served as a Captain in the Second Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. He died of wounds received in action in 1916.

Anthony Evelyn Melbourne Ashley passed away in November 1907 at the age of 71. Lady Alice Ashley died on 25 August 1931.