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Sir Jacob Astley, 1st Baronet

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Sir Jacob Astley, 1st Baronet (ca. 1639 – 17 August 1729)[1] of Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk was an English Tory politician and baronet.

Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk, circa 1880

Background

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He was the oldest son of Edward Astley and his wife Elizabeth Astley, daughter of his uncle Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading.[2] Astley was educated first at Norwich School,[3] then King's College, Cambridge,[4] and finally Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 19 June 1659.[5] On 7 September of the same year on the death of his paternal uncle Sir Isaac Astley, 1st Baronet, he inherited the estates of Hill Morton, Warwickshire and Melton Constable,[6] and in 1688 the Maidstone, Kent estates of his cousin Jacob Astley, 3rd Baron Astley of Reading.[6] In 1664 he commenced the building of the present Melton Constable Hall. He sold the Kent estate in 1720.

Career

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Having been already knighted, Astley was created a Baronet, of Hill Morton, in the County of Warwick on 26 June 1660.[6] He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1664 before entering the British House of Commons in 1685 as MP for Norfolk until 1689.[7] He represented the constituency again from 1690 to 1701, from 1702 to 1705 and a last time from 1710 to 1722.[7] Astley was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1664 and Commissioner of Trade between 1714 and 1717.[8]

Family

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On 6 February 1661, he married Blanche Wodehouse, eldest daughter of Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet.[9] They had four sons and a daughter.[2] Astley was buried at Melton Constable few days after his death.[9] He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his second and oldest surviving son Philip.[2] MP Philip Metcalfe was his great-grandson.

References

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  1. ^ "Leigh Rayment - Baronetage". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b c Debrett, John (1824). Debrett's Baronetage of England. Vol. I (5th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. p. 219.
  3. ^ Harries et al. (1991), p. 222
  4. ^ "Astley, Jacob (ASTY657J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D. W. Hayton, ed. (2002). The House of Commons, 1690-1715. Vol. III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 83.
  6. ^ a b c Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 51.
  7. ^ a b "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Norfolk". Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ Haydn, Joseph (1851). The Book of Dignities: Containing Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman's. pp. 178.
  9. ^ a b "ThePeerage - Sir Jacob Astley, 1st Bt". Retrieved 30 December 2006.
Bibliography
  • Harries, R.; Cattermole, P.; Mackintosh, P. (1991). A History of Norwich School: King Edward VI's Grammar School at Norwich. Norwich: Friends of Norwich School. ISBN 978-0-9518561-1-6.
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Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Norfolk
1685–1689
With: Sir Thomas Hare, Bt
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Norfolk
1690–1701
With: Sir William Cook 1690–1695
Sir Henry Hobart 1695–1698
Sir William Cook 1698–1701
Roger Townshend 1701
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Norfolk
1702–1705
With: Sir John Holland
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Norfolk
17101722
With: Sir John Wodehouse 1710–1713
Sir Edmund Bacon 1713–1715
Thomas de Grey 1715–1722
Succeeded by
Baronetage of England
New creation Baronet
(of Hill Morton)
1660–1729
Succeeded by
Philip Astley