Viscount Ashbrook is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1751 for Henry Flower, 2nd Baron Castle Durrow. The title of Baron Castle Durrow, in the County of Kilkenny, had been created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1733 for his father William Flower. He was a Colonel in the Army and also represented County Kilkenny and Portarlington in the Irish House of Commons. He was praised by Jonathan Swift as "a gentleman of very great sense and wit". As of 2022, the titles are held by the eleventh Viscount, who succeeded his father in 1995.

Viscountcy Ashbrook

Blazon

Arms: Quarterly 1st and 4th, Argent two Chevronels between three Ravens each having an Ermine Spot in its beak Sable and between the chevronels three Pellets; 2nd and 3rd, Gules three Towers Argent.

Creation date30 September 1751
Created byKing George II
PeeragePeerage of Ireland
First holderHenry Flower, 2nd Baron Castle Durrow
Present holderMichael Flower, 11th Viscount Ashbrook
Heir apparentHon. Rowland Flower
Remainder toHeirs male of the first viscount's body, lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titlesBaron Castle Durrow
Seat(s)Arley Hall
Former seat(s)Castle Durrow
Beaumont Lodge
Shellingford Manor
MottoNens Conscia Recti ("A mind conscious of rectitude")

The family seat is Arley Hall, near Arley, Cheshire.[1] Until 1922, the principal seat of the family was Castle Durrow, near Durrow, County Kilkenny; in England they also owned Beaumont Lodge, near Old Windsor, Berkshire,[2] and the manor of Shellingford in Shellingford, Berkshire (presently Oxfordshire).[3][4]

Barons Castle Durrow (1733) edit

Viscounts Ashbrook (1751) edit

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Rowland Francis Warburton Flower (b. 1975)
The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son Benjamin Warburton Flower (b. 2006).[5]

Ancestry edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Giles, Juliet (2013). "The Guardians of Arley Hall". The English Home. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  2. ^ The Court Magazine. Dobbs & Company. 1834. p. 116.
  3. ^ The Berkshire Archæological Journal. Berkshire Archaeological Society. 1932. p. 56.
  4. ^ Clark, Hugh; Wormull, Thomas (1779). The Peerage of the Nobility of England, Scotland, and Ireland. G. Kearsly, at No. 46, in Fleet-Street.
  5. ^ "Ashbrook, Viscount (I, 1751)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

References edit

Bibliography edit

Godson, Julie Ann, "The Water Gypsy. How a Thames fishergirl became a viscountess" (FeedARead.com, 2014). A biography of Betty Ridge (1745–1808) who married William Flower, 2nd Viscount Ashbrook (1744–1780), and history of the Ridge and Flower families

External links edit