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CURZON, Assheton (1730-1820), of Penn House, nr. Amersham, Bucks. and Hagley, Staffs.
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b. 2 Feb. 1730, 2nd s. of Sir Nathaniel Curzon†, 4th Bt., of Kedlestone, Derbys. by Mary, da. and coh. of Sir Ralph Assheton†, 2nd Bt., of Middleton, Lancs. educ. Westminster 1740-6; Brasenose, Oxf. 1747. m. (1) 23 Feb. 1756, Esther (d. 21 July 1764), da. and h. of William Hanmer of Hanmer, Flints., 1s. 2da., (2) 6 Feb. 1766, Dorothy (d. 25 Feb. 1774) da. of Sir Robert Grosvenor†, 6th Bt., of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, 2s. 2da.; (3) 17 Apr. 1777, Anna Margaretta, da. of Amos Meredith of Henbury, Cheshire, wid. of Barlow Trecothick† of Addington, Surr., s.p. cr. Baron Curzon 13 Aug. 1794; Visct. Curzon 27 Feb. 1802.
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Curzon, who was deprived of his seat for Clitheroe on the family’s proprietary interest in 1780 by the treachery of his fellow Member, was encountered at Spa in 1786 by his nephew’s sister-in-law Judith Milbanke, who wrote:
Mrs Curzon looks very ill and is come to drink the waters, but her spouse who ... is quite a quack, has taken it into his head that the place is damp and chews rhubarb all day to counteract the effects of the bad air. As he is dreadfully afraid of himself, I daresay he will not stay long enough for the waters to be of any service to her.
In October 1789 he had hopes of receiving a peerage ‘early in the next session’, but Pitt declined to be more definite than ‘during the next Parliament’. He had recovered his interest at Clitheroe by 1790 and returned himself in 1792, when his elder son vacated to come in for Leicestershire. No speech or vote is recorded before he obtained his peerage in 1794. He was promoted to viscount by Addington, to the mortification of his elder brother Nathaniel, Baron Scarsdale (1726-1804). His application to Perceval for an earldom was unsuccessful, but his grandson and successor obtained one (Earl Howe) in 1821.
Curzon died 21 Mar. 1820, leaving personalty sworn under £120,000.
M. Elwin, Noels and Milbankes, 296; PRO 30/8/127, f. 260; Gent. Mag. (1820), i. 370.
