UK Parliamentary Archives

• Held At: Parliamentary Archives: GB-061
• Catalogue Reference: ASH
• Accession Number: 1153
• Former Archival Reference: Historical Collection 111
• Ref No: ASH
• Date: 1860-1932
• Level: Fonds
• Extent: 209 files
• Creator Name: Gibson; Edward (1837-1913); 1st Baron Ashbourne
• Administrative or Biographical History: Edward Gibson, first Baron Ashbourne, was born in Dublin on 4 September 1837, the second son of William Gibson, of Rockforest, county Tipperary and Louisa, daughter of Joseph Grant of Dublin. He was called to the Irish bar in 1860 and took silk in 1872. He contested Waterford unsuccessfully as a conservative in 1874, but was returned the next year for Dublin University. He was appointed Attorney-General for Ireland in 1877, a position which he held till 1880. In 1885, Gibson was raised to the peerage and promoted Lord Chancellor of Ireland with a seat in the Cabinet. He held the same office in the Conservative governments of 1886-1892 and 1895-1905.
  
  In his legal career, Ashbourne was president of the Court of Appeal. When he vacated the chancellorship, Ashbourne constantly sat in the appellate tribunals of the Lords and Privy Council. He piloted the Irish Land Purchase Act of 1885, known as the Ashbourne Act. He was the author of Pitt, some Chapters of his Life and Times (1898).
  
  He married in 1868 Frances Maria Adelaide, second daughter of Henry Cope Colles, barrister, by whom he had four sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William, second Baron Ashbourne (born 1868). He died in London on 22 May 1913.
• Acquisition: Accessioned by HLRO on 10 November 1972. Accession number 1153.
• Category: Personal/Political Papers
• Description: Includes diaries, notebooks, draft speeches, correspondence, press cuttings, documents from the Bolton papers, tracts and pamphlets.
• Terms:
  • Politicians,
  • Ireland,
  • Conservatism,
• Language: English
• System of Arrangement: The arrangement used by Ashbourne has been retained as far as possible.
• Related Material: The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in association with The House of Lords Record Office published: A B Cooke and A P W Malcomson 'The Ashbourne Papers, 1869-1913, a Calendar of the Papers of Edward Gibson, 1st Lord Ashbourne' (Belfast, HMSO, 1974). This is available in hard copy in the House of Lords Record Office search room.
• Access Status: Open
• Access Conditions: The following records are currently missing: ASH/A/4, ASH/C/4, ASH/D, ASH/H.
• Copies Exist: Photocopies of the material are held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

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