George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham

He was the son of the 2nd Earl of Ashburnham and the former Elizabeth Crowley, being styled Viscount St Asaph from birth, and was baptised on 29 January 1761 at St George's, Hanover Square, London, with King George III, the Duke of Newcastle and the Dowager Princess of Wales as his godparents.

In 1780, Lord St Asaph graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, with a Master of Arts degree.[1]

Lord St Asaph was summoned to the House of Lords by writ in acceleration as 5th Baron Ashburnham in 1804. He held the office of Trustee of the British Museum between 1810 and 1830. In 1812 he succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Ashburnham.

His main family home was at Ashburnham Place in Sussex, which belonged to the family from the late 11th century until 1953. The Ashburnham archive is held by the East Sussex Record Office.[2]

He married, firstly, Sophia Thynne (19 December 1763 – 9 April 1791), daughter of the 3rd Viscount Weymouth (later the 1st Marquess of Bath), on 28 August 1784. They had four children:

• George Ashburnham, Viscount St Asaph (8 October 1785 – 7 June 1813)
• Lady Elizabeth Sophia Ashburnham (16 September 1786 – 13 March 1879)
• Sophia Ashburnham (29 January 1788 – 17 June 1807)
• Ensign John Ashburnham (3 June 1789 – 1810) (served in the Coldstream Guards in the Napoleonic Wars; drowned whilst returning from Portugal)

He married, secondly, Lady Charlotte Percy (3 June 1776 – 26 November 1862) on 25 July 1795. She was a daughter of the 1st Earl of Beverley, and a sister of George Percy, 5th Duke of Northumberland. They had 13 children:

• William Ashburnham (19 January 1797 – 1797) (died an infant)
• Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (23 November 1797 – 22 June 1878)
• Percy Ashburnham (22 November 1799 – 25 January 1881)
• Lady Charlotte Susan Ashburnham (23 February 1801 – 26 April 1865)
• Lady Theodosia Julia Ashburnham (27 March 1802 – 22 August 1887)
• Charles Ashburnham (23 March 1803 – 22 December 1848)
• Lady Georgiana Jemima Ashburnham (11 May 1805 – May 1882) (mother of Algernon Mitford)
• Lady Jane Henrietta Ashburnham (19 July 1809 – 26 November 1896) (mother of the poet Swinburne)
• Lady Katherine Frances Ashburnham (31 March 1812 – 6 April 1839)
• Lady Eleanor Isabel Bridget Ashburnham (28 July 1814 – 6 March 1895)
• General Thomas Ashburnham, CB (1816 – 2 March 1872)
• Lady Mary Agnes Blanche Ashburnham (23 January 1816 – 22 April 1899)
• Reginald Ashburnham (1819 – 5 March 1830)

On his death he was survived by his fourth (but eldest surviving) son, Bertram, Viscount St. Asaph.