Sir Ralph Assheton Knight & Sheriff of Yorkshire

   Another name for Ralph was Ashton Sir Ralph Knight & Sheriff of Yorkshire.

  General Notes:

~History of Lancaster, Vol. V, "Middleton," pp. 161-169, By 1480 the greater part of the Middleton estate was held by Sir Ralph Ashton and Margery his wife. ⁸⁶¹

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁹³¹
Ralph was the son of Sir John and his second wife, Lady Margaret Byron. In 6 Hnery VI, as appears by deed of trust to the Abbot of Whalley, his father exchanged the use of his son Ralph for 1000 marks from that Abbot. In 17 Henry VI, Ralph was a page to Henry VI, and the same year he married Margery, daughter of John Barton, of Middleton, Esquire, and heiress to her Uncle, Richard Barton, which came to Ralph de Ashton. He was Knight Marshal of England, Lieutenant of the Tower of London and Sheriff of Yorkshire in 12 and 13 Edward VI.

Sir Ralph and Margaret (Mary) had six sons and seven daughters:

Richard
Ralph, who married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Adam Lever, of Lever, in Lancashire.
Thomas, a priest
William
Edmund
John
and three that died young.
Mary, who married John Nasfield
Phillipa, who married Thomas Cauton, Esq.
Anne, married John Talbot, of Salisbury, 30 Hnery VI
Lucy, married Richard Westhorpe
Three other daughters, Elizabeth, Johanna and Agnes, died at an early age.

~History and description of the town and parish of Ashton-Under-Lyne, p. 18-19

• Background Information. ⁸⁶¹
In 1480 Sir Ralph Ashton of Fryton and Margery his wife granted land in Birtle and Middleton. Three years later it was recorded that Sir Ralph Ashton held the manor of Middleton in right of his wife, by one knight's fee, rendering yearly 13s. 4d. and for ward of Lancaster Castle 10s [Feodary of 1483; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Vols. 130].

Sir Ralph Ashton, brought up at court and made a knight before 1464 and a banneret by Richard Duke of Gloucester at Hutton field in Scotland, 1482 [Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 6], held various public offices and was by Richard III appointed Vice Constable of England [Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 151]. Early in 1484 he made a lease to Richard his son for twenty years of the manor of Middleton, and probably died shortly afterwards.

'Townships: Middleton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, pp. 161-169

Ralph married Margaret Barton, daughter of John Barton esquire of Middleton and Margaret Byron, about 1439 in Middleton, Lancastershire, England ^535,861.^,862 (Margaret Barton was born about 1425 in Middleton, Lancastershire, England ⁸⁶¹.)