English Tory politician and baronet
Sir Jacob Astley, 1st Baronet (ca. 1639 – 17 August 1729) of Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk was an English Tory politician and baronet.
Background.
He was the oldest son of Edward Astley and his wife Elizabeth Astley, daughter of his uncle Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading. Astley was educated first at Norwich School, then King's College, Cambridge, and finally Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 19 June 1659. On 7 September of the same year on the death of his paternal uncle Sir Isaac Astley, 1st Baronet, he inherited the estates of Hill Morton, Warwickshire and Melton Constable, and in 1688 the Maidstone, Kent estates of his cousin Jacob Astley, 3rd Baron Astley of Reading. In 1664 he commenced the building of the present Melton Constable Hall. He sold the Kent estate in 1720.
Career.
Having been already knighted, Astley was created a Baronet, of Hill Morton, in the County of Warwick on 26 June 1660. He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1664 before entering the British House of Commons in 1685 as MP for Norfolk until 1689. He represented the constituency again from 1690 to 1701, from 1702 to 1705 and a last time from 1710 to 1722. Astley was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1664 and Commissioner of Trade between 1714 and 1717.
Family.
On 6 February 1661, he married Blanche Wodehouse, eldest daughter of Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet. They had four sons and a daughter. Astley was buried at Melton Constable few days after his death. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his second and oldest surviving son Philip. MP Philip Metcalfe was his great-grandson.
References.
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