Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Ashley, Evelyn
ASHLEY, The Hon. Evelyn, M.P., is the second surviving son of the Earl of Shaftesbury, by his marriage with Lady Emily Cowper, eldest daughter of Peter Leopold, fifth Earl Cowper, and was born in July, 1836. He was educated at Harrow, and graduated M.A. at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1858. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in Trinity term, 1863, and joined the Oxford circuit. Mr. Ashley, who is a magistrate for Dorset and the county Sligo, unsuccessfully contested the Isle of Wight in February, 1874; he was, however, elected for Poole in May of the same year, and continued to represent that borough down to 1880, when he was elected for the Isle of Wight. Mr. Ashley was formerly private secretary to the late Lord Palmerston, and from 1863 to 1874 he was a Treasurer of County Courts. When the Liberals returned to power in April, 1880, Mr. Ashley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, and in May, 1882, he was chosen by Mr. Gladstone to succeed Mr. Courtney in the office of Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. He is also second Church Estates Commissioner. Mr. Ashley married in 1866 Sybella Charlotte, daughter of Sir Walter Rockliffe Farquhar, bart. He is the author of the "Life of Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston."