Sir Edward Astley, 4th Baronet

{{infobox officeholder|name=Edward Astley|image=File:Sir_Edward_Astley,_4th_Baronet_Astley_of_Hill_Morton_(1729-1802).jpg|birth_date=1729{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1276780|title=Sir Edward Astley, 4th Baronet Astley of Hill Morton (1729-1802)|accessdate=22 October 2021|website=National Trust Collections}}|death_date=27 March 1802|father=Sir Jacob Astley, 3rd Baronet|mother=Lucy le Strange|office=4th Baronet|term_start=1760|term_end=1802|successor=Sir Jacob Astley, 5th Baronet|constituency_MP1=Norfolk|parliament1=British|term_start1=1768|term_end1=1790|spouse={{ubl|Rhoda Delaval|Anne Milles|Elizabeth Bullen}}}}

Sir Edward Astley, 4th Baronet (baptised 26 December 1729 – 27 March 1802){{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/astley-sir-edward-1729-1802|website=The History of Parliament|accessdate=22 October 2021|title=ASTLEY, Sir Edward, 4th Bt. (1729-1802), of Melton Constable, Norf.|last=Drummond|first=Mary}} was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1790.

Early life and career

He was the oldest son of Sir Jacob Astley, 3rd Baronet and his second wife Lucy le Strange, youngest daughter of Sir Nicholas le Strange, 4th Baronet. He was admitted to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1747.{{acad|id=ASTY747E|name=Astley, Edward}} In 1760, Astley succeeded his father as baronet.{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsA2.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080501224745/http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsA2.htm | archive-date = 1 May 2008 | title = Leigh Rayment - Baronetage | url-status = usurped | accessdate = 7 April 2009 }}

He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1763–64 and in 1768 stood successfully as Member of Parliament (MP) for Norfolk, the same constituency his great-grandfather Sir Jacob Astley, 1st Baronet had represented, too. Astley held this seat unopposed until the 1790 general election when he retired.{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ncommons2.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091220041854/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ncommons2.htm | archive-date = 20 December 2009 | title = Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Norfolk | url-status = usurped | accessdate = 7 April 2009 }} He was a supporter of parliamentary reform.

Astley had a younger brother, John Astley (born 1735), who was Rector of several Norfolk parishes.John Archibald Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses: Part II. 1752–1900, Vol. I (1940), [https://archive.org/details/p2alumnicantabri01univuoft/page/88/mode/2up p. 88]

Marriage and children

File:Rhoda Astley (née Delaval) by Arthur Pond.jpg, first wife of Edward Astley, by Arthur Pond.]]

Astley married firstly Rhoda Delaval, oldest daughter of Francis Blake Delaval in 1751.{{cite book | last = Kimber | first = Edward | authorlink = Edward Kimber | publisher = Thomas Wotton | editor = Richard Johnson | title = The Baronetage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets | volume = II | year = 1771 | location = London | pages = 39 }} Rhoda died in childbirth in 1757 and Astley married secondly Anne Milles, youngest daughter of Christopher Milles, at St Margaret's Church, Westminster two years later. She died in 1792, and he married lastly Elizabeth Bullen in the following year. Astley had three sons and a daughter by his first wife and five sons and two daughters by his second wife.{{cite book | last = Debrett | first = John | publisher = G. Woodfall | edition = 5th | title = Debrett's Baronetage of England | volume = I | year = 1824 | location = London | pages = 220 }} On his death in 1802 Astley was succeeded in the baronetcy by his third but oldest surviving son Sir Jacob Astley, 5th Baronet,{{cite book | last = Burke | first = John | title = A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire | publisher = Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley | location = London | volume = I | edition = 4th | year = 1832 | pages = 51 }} who at this time sat also for Norfolk in the House of Commons.