History Society: How Dunstable benefited from a family dispute
The wealthy Mrs Frances Ashton, owner of numerous valuable properties in Georgian times in the Dunstable area, strongly disapproved of a man who was seeking to marry her only surviving daughter.
But the marriage took place anyway. Mrs Ashton was so outraged that she altered her will, completely disinheriting her *undutiful” daughter. Her fortune went instead to create a number of local charities which still benefit Dunstable today. The legacy provided funds to found the Ashton almshouses and various schools bearing the Ashton name, including the old Dunstable Grammar School.
Hugh Garrod, vice-chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society, spoke about Mrs Ashton and her family to the society’s October meeting.
The family’s fortunes were founded by William Marshe, who created a distilling business which became immensely profitable. His descendants, including Thomas Chew, Frances Ashton, Blandina Marsh, Jane Cart, Henry Aynscombe and Mary Lockington, became significant local benefactors whose names and good works are still commemorated.
The continuing mystery is why Mrs Ashton, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Chew, took such an intense dislike of her daughter’s suitor, John Raynor.
Hugh Garrod, who guesses that she thought Mr Raynor was a fortune-hunter, has followed a documented trail of the events. The marriage certificate simply records that John Raynor, a bachelor living at St Clement Danes in Middlesex, married Elizabeth Ashton at St Giles, Cripplegate, on November 12, 1713. It is signed by two witnesses.
Elizabeth’s mother was so angry about her daughter’s defiance that when she altered her will she took care that her displeasure was duly recorded in the new document.
Hugh has discovered that the couple later arranged a second wedding ceremony, perhaps to try to heal the family breach. This took place at Hillingdon Church on December 27 1714.
Mrs Ashton died in 1727. Mr and Mrs Raynor contested her will, challenging its restrictive and spiteful nature, and took their case to the Court of Chancery. It dragged on at great expense, gathering lengthy written depositions, but Elizabeth did not succeed in overturning her mother’s wishes. The town of Dunstable has benefited from the result ever since.
The history society’s next meeting is at 7.45pm on Tuesday, November 10, when coin collector Simon Rowley, a former Dunstable Manshead Archaeological Society member, talks about the Bedford Mint and the collection of locally-issued tokens assembled by historian Thomas Bagshawe.