Astley’s father had already had a distinguished career as a soldier in Holland and Scandinavia when in 1640 he inherited the estates of his ‘cousin’, Sir John Astley‡ (whose children had all predeceased him), the son of the Elizabethan courtier John Astley‡. His Civil War service was rewarded with a peerage in 1644, and having been captured by the parliamentarians at Stow on the Wold in 1646 and given his parole, he seems to have sat out the rest of the war and Interregnum at his Maidstone home, where he died on 27 Feb. 1652.
Little is known of Astley’s youth, although, aged about 15, he was the eldest of four sons naturalized by act of Parliament in 1628. By the time of his father’s death these three brothers were dead, the youngest, Bernard, having perished at the siege of Bristol in 1645. A younger brother, Edward, and a sister Elizabeth were naturalized by act in 1656; Edward served as a soldier with the Dutch, before his death at Maastricht in 1676.
Having taken his seat in the Lords on 14 June 1660, Astley was then present on 99 days of the remainder of the session, 82 per cent of the total. He was present on 13, 16, 17 and 22 Nov. 1660 to see through a bill to naturalize his son Francis (his eldest son had been born in England). On each day the bill was either the first item of business or close to the beginning of the day’s agenda which suggests that he was either very lucky or on good terms with those who managed the business of the House. He was less fortunate when the bill reached the Commons where, despite a reminder, it was lost at the end of the session.
Astley died in September 1662, being succeeded by his son, Jacob Astley, 3rd Baron Astley. He left no will, but on 6 May 1663 his widow proved the will of his father, the first baron, in the local church court rather than in the prerogative court of Canterbury.