William Ashhurst

Sir William Ashhurst or Ashurst (26 April 1647 – 12 January 1720) was an English banker, Sheriff of London, Lord Mayor of London and Member of Parliament.

Biography

The son of Henry Ashurst Ashurst was a member of the Corporation of London from 1678, and an alderman from 1687; he was knighted in 1687, and was Sheriff of London in 1691–1692 and Lord Mayor of London in 1693–1694.

A Whig, he represented the City of London in Parliament for three separate periods between 1689 and 1710; he was generally regarded as one of the Country Whigs, but voted with the Court Whigs against the Disbanding Bill in 1698-9.

He was a good friend of Edmund Calamy and was a nonconformist like the rest of his family, so unsurprisingly he was an active supporter of the Glorious Revolution and sat in the Convention Parliament (1689).

He was one of the founding subscribers of the Bank of England, and a Director of the bank in 1697–1700, 1701–3, 1704–6, 1707–9 and 1711–14.

Family

Sir William married Elizabeth the daughter of Robert Thompson. When in the country they lived in a Queen Anne style red-brick mansion he built in the outer bailey of Hedingham Castle after his purchase of the castle in 1693.