Ashburton

In 1715 Ashburton was controlled by two Whigs, Roger Tuckfield of Raddon Court, who owned a moiety of the manor of Ashburton, and Richard Reynell of East Ogwell and Denbury, near the borough. They shared the representation till 1734 when Reynell was ousted by Sir William Yonge, standing jointly with Tuckfield, with the support of the Drake family, who owned the other moiety of the manor.1Letter of John Dipford, 19 Feb. 1739, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss. On Reynell’s death in 1735 his property passed to his niece, whose husband, Joseph Taylor, was returned in 1739 at a by-election caused by the death of Tuckfield. But in 1741 John Harris, who had married Tuckfield’s sister and the heir to his property, gained complete control of the borough, thenceforth returning himself and another government supporter for it without opposition. In the 2nd Lord Egmont’s electoral survey, c. 1749-50, Ashburton is shown as ‘in John Harris’.