John Ashburner Nix (1 July 1866 – 9 May 1927) was an English businessman, estate owner, Conservative Party (UK) politician and barrister who served as High Sheriff of Sussex in 1911.[1][2]
He was the son of John Hennings Nix, one of the partners in the London bank Fuller, Banbury, Nix & Co, and Sarah Ashburner, a wealthy heiress born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India whose father George Ashburner (1810–1869), originally from Bombay (now Mumbai), had made a fortune as a merchant in India and at the end of his life bought Tilgate House, a 2,185-acre estate in Crawley, Sussex.[3][4] Tilgate House was inherited by Sarah Nix, an only child, and following her death the estate was owned by John Ashburner Nix from 1904 until his death in 1927; the estate was then inherited by his brother Charles Nix. He served as a second lieutenant in the Welch Regiment before studying law.[5] He was a director of the mining company San Antonio de Esimilacho of Peru.[6] He stood as a conservative candidate for Ashburton in the 1895 United Kingdom general election, but lost to incumbent Charles Seale-Hayne.[7]
References edit
- ^ Historic list of High Sheriffs of Sussex from 1086 to 1974
- ^ Lichfield Mercury, Friday 10 March 1911, p. 3
- ^ The History of Tilgate Estate
- ^ Pine, L. G. (1939). "Nix of Tilgate". Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (16th ed.). p. 1686.
- ^ Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 13 May 1927, p. 6
- ^ West Sussex County Times, Saturday 27 August 1927, pp. 6–7
- ^ Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Thursday 29 August 1895, p. 1