ASHBURTON, JOHN DUNNING, 1st Baron[1] (1731-1783), English lawyer, the second son of John Dunning of Ashburton, Devonshire, an attorney, was born at Ashburton on the 18th of October 1731, and was educated at the free grammar school of his native place. At first articled to his father, he was admitted, at the age of nineteen, to the Middle Temple, and called to the bar in 1756, where he came very slowly into practice. He went the western circuit for several years without receiving a single brief. In 1762 he was employed to draw up a defence of the British East India Company against the Dutch East India Company, which had memorialized the crown on certain grievances, and the masterly style which characterized the document procured him at once reputation and emolument. In 1763 he distinguished himself as counsel on the side of Wilkes, whose cause he conducted throughout. His powerful argument against the validity of general warrants in the case of Leach v. Money (June 18, 1763) established his reputation, and his practice from that period gradually increased to such an extent that in 1776 he is said to have been in the receipt of nearly £10,000 per annum. In 1766 he was chosen recorder of Bristol, and in December 1767 he was appointed solicitor-general. The latter appointment he held till May 1770, when he retired with his friend Lord Shelburne. In 1771 he was presented with the freedom of the city of London. From this period he was considered as a regular member of the opposition, and distinguished himself by many able speeches in parliament. He was first chosen member for Calne in 1768, and continued to represent that borough until he was promoted to the peerage. In 1780 he brought forward a motion that the “influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished,” which he carried by a majority of eighteen. He strongly opposed the system of sinecure officers and pensions; but his probity was not strong enough to prevent his taking advantage of it himself. In 1782, when the marquis of Rockingham became prime minister, Dunning was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, a rich sinecure; and about the same time he was advanced to the peerage, with the title of Lord Ashburton. Under Lord Shelburne’s administration he accepted a pension of £4000 a year. He died at Exmouth on the 18th of August 1783. Though possessed of an insignificant person, an awkward manner and a provincial accent, Lord Ashburton was one of the most fluent and persuasive orators of his time. He had married Elizabeth Baring, and was succeeded as 2nd baron by his son Richard, at whose death in 1823 the title became extinct, being revived in 1835 by Alexander Baring.
Besides the answer to the Dutch memorial, Lord Ashburton is supposed to have assisted in writing a pamphlet on the law of libel, and to have been the author of A Letter to the Proprietors of East India Stock, on the subject of Lord Clive’s Jaghire, occasioned by his Lordship’s Letter on that Subject (1764, 8vo). He was at one time suspected of being the author of the Letters of Junius.
[1] i.e. of the first creation; for the present title see above.
ASHBURTON, a river of Western Australia, rising in the mountains west of the Great Sandy Desert, and following a course north-westward for 400 m., into Exmouth Gulf. In its upper reaches it flows through a rich gold-bearing district to which it gives name, and nearer its mouth it traverses a vast tract of fine pastoral country. The outlet for both these districts is the port of Onslow, at the mouth of the river, near which there are several pearl-fishing stations. The river is not navigable.
ASHBURTON, a market-town in the Ashburton parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, 24 m. N.W. by W. of Plymouth, on a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2628. It lies in a valley surrounded by hills, at a short distance from the river Dart; the scenery, towards Dartmoor and in the neighbourhood of Buckland and Holne Chase, being unsurpassed in the county. The church of St. Andrew is cruciform with a lofty tower. It was built early in the 15th century, and contains a fine old oak roof over the north aisle, and a tablet in memory of John Dunning, solicitor-general and 1st Baron Ashburton (1731-1783). The inscription is by Dr Johnson. Lord Ashburton was educated at the grammar school, which was founded as a chantry in 1314. Serge is manufactured in Ashburton, and there are breweries, paint factories and saw-mills. A large deposit of umber is worked in the neighbourhood. Slate quarries and copper and tin mines were formerly valuable. A neighbouring centre of the serge industry is the urban district of Buckfastleigh (pop. 2520), 3 m. S S.W. Between the two towns is Buckfast Abbey, said to have been, before the Conquest, a Benedictine house, and refounded for Cistercians in 1137. It was restored to use in 1882 by a French Benedictine community, the fine Perpendicular abbot’s tower remaining, while other parts have been rebuilt on the original lines.
Ashburton (Essebretona, Asperton, Ashperton) is a borough by prescription and an ancient stannary town. It was governed by a portreeve and bailiff, elected annually at the court leet held by the lord of the manor. According to Domesday, Ashburton was held in chief by Osbern, bishop of Exeter, and rendered geld for six hides. In 1552, as the two manors of Ashburton Borough and Ashburton Foreign, it was sold by the bishop, and subsequently became crown property. Finally, it was acquired in moieties by the Clinton family, and the present Lord Clinton is joint lord of the manor with Sir Robert Jardine. In 1298 and 1407 Ashburton returned two members, from 1407 until 1640 one member only, and then again two members, until deprived of one by the Reform Act of 1832 and of the other by the Reform Act of 1885. In the reign of Edward II. Bishop Stapledon obtained a Saturday market, and two annual fairs lasting three days at the feasts of St Laurence (August 10) and St Martin in winter (November 11). In 1672 John Ford was granted a Tuesday market for the sale of wool and woollen goods made from English yarn, and in 1705 Andrew Quicke obtained two annual fairs, on the first Thursdays in March and June, for the sale of cattle, corn and merchandise.