Ashe Windham

Windham was first considered as a parliamentary candidate in 1699, for Norfolk (his father had unsuccessfully run for it in 1679 as a Whig). However, according to Humphrey Prideaux, his grand tour counted against him:

having had an Italian education, [he] is all over Italiz’d, that is an Italian as to religion, I mean a downright atheist; an Italian in politics, that is a Commonwealthsman; and an Italian I doubt in his morals, for he cannot be persuaded to marry. He is . . . of a tolerable good understanding and an estate of £4,000 per annum.

Windham stepped down from the 1705 election campaign in favour of his friend and cousin Roger Townshend, whom he replaced at the 1708 British general election, contesting the seat unopposed and becoming the first of his family to sit in Parliament. That year he was said to possess "as great estate as any commoner in the country".

Windham was one of the main MPs behind an unsuccessful address to Queen Anne on 25 January 1709 requesting that she remarry. He voted for the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709 and for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. He and Robert Walpole II stood for Norfolk at the 1710 British general election but were defeated and he declined to stand again in 1713.

Windham's marriage failed, and after the birth of a son in 1717, the couple parted. He retired to Felbrigg to manage his estates and look after the education of his son. He also had one illegitimate daughter.

A portrait of Windham by Sir Godfrey Kneller is owned by the National Trust and held at Felbrigg.^[3]