John Aislabie (1670-1742

RINGROSE—LEMMON. On 1st April, 1954, at Wesley Place, Addingham, David Francis, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Ringrose, of New Earswick, York, to Dora Winifred, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Lemmon, of Addingham, Yorkshire. [1943-47.]

ENGAGEMENTS

BLACK—MILLS. The engagement is announced between Victor, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Black, of York, and Betty, only daughter of 'Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Mills, of Harrogate. [1935-41.] MOUNTAIN—NOLAN. The engagement is announced between the

Rev. Geoffrey 'Mountain, of 383 Fulwood Road, Sheffield, son of the late Mr. E. Mountain and of Mrs. L. M. Mountain, of Scarborough, and Olive Mary, daughter of Mr. and 'Mrs. H. Nolan, of 38 Norton Lees Lane, Sheffield. [1939-45.] WALL—PENDLE. The engagement is announced between John

David Crozier, only son of 'Mr. and 'Mrs. T. J. Wall, of Peterborough, and Audrey Dorothy, elder daughter of the late Mr.

F. E. and Mrs. V. Pendle, of Campbeltown, Argyll. [1942-50.] WETHERELL—JOHNSON. The engagement is announced between

Paul, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Wetherell, of Turnham

Hall, Cliffe, Selby, and Margaret, the youngest daughter of Mrs.

E. 'M. Clayton and the late Mr. L. Johnson, of North Duffield,

Selby. [1948-52.]

AN OLD PETERITE

JOHN AISLABIE (1670-1742)

We are indebted to Mr. F. H. Woodward for drawing our attention to a reference in Vol. 37 of the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal which establishes that John Aislabie, Lord of the 'Manor of Studley Royal, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1718 to 1721, was an Old Peterite. Aislabie, it appears, was at St. Peter's during the Headmastership of the Rev. William Tomlinson (1679-1711). It can hardly be claimed that Aislabie's career shed lustre on his old school, since at the time of his fall from power, when the "South Sea Bubble" burst at the close of 1720, he was probably the most execrated man in all England, and his public life ended with his ignominous expulsion from the House of Commons and temporary incarceration in the Tower of London. But though he was a notorious rather than a notable Old Peterite, he was certainly a national figure and his history must be •of interest to us.

John Aislabie came of a family of Baltic merchants who by the early 17th century were well-established as substantial citizens of York. His father, George Aislabie, was Registrar of the Episcopal Court of York ,(an office in which his son succeeded him), and his marriage 8

to Mary, daughter of Sir John Mallory, of Studley Royal, elevated him to the ranks of the landed gentry, since Sir John left no male heirs and the daughter inherited the estate. John Aislabie, the subject of this note, was the second son of this marriage and was baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, on the 7th December, 1670. He left St. Peter's in 1687 and proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, in the same year. His elder brother died in 1699, and ultimately he inherited Studley Royal from his mother.

His political career dated from 1695 when he became Member of Parliament for the Ripon Borough (Ripon, which returned two Members, was at the time a pocket borough of the Lords of Studley Royal), and, except for a brief period of two or three years when he was nominated for another constituency, he was one of Ripon's representatives until his fall in 1721. The patronage of Harley secured him a position as one of the:Commissioners of Admiralty in 1712, and two years later he gained the important and lucrative post of Treasurer of the Navy, in which office he did much good work in endeavouring to straighten out the chaotic finances of the Admiralty. He had the sagacity to see the political significance of the death of Queen Anne, and when the long period of Whig domination began in 1714, by a judicious volte-face he found himself on the right side of the fence. When, in 1718, Charles, Earl of Sunderland, became First Lord of the Treasury, Aislabie took office as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Thus far St. Peter's and the Rev. Tomlinson could well have been proud of Aislabie's political career. But the Treasury's association with the activities of the South Sea Company, for which Aislabie was largely responsible, brought him to disgrace and the end of his public life. In 1719 the South Sea Company (promoted originally by Harley in 1711 as a means to strengthen the public credit) came forward with a scheme for paying off the National Debt through the activities of the Company and invited the Government to participate. Despite the opposition of the Bank of England, Aislabie gave the project his wholehearted support, and a Bill giving effect to the scheme received the Royal Assent early in 1720. Public subscription was invited and a wave of get-rich-quick speculation swept over the country. At the height of the mania the price of the stock rose to the fantastic figure of £1,000. The inevitable crash followed, and thousands of families were ruined. All this, and the subsequent outcry against a scheme which in retrospect seemed a deliberate plot to exploit the public, are matters of history. Parliament appointed a committee of inquiry whose proceedings were secret. John Aislabie did not wait for its findings. In January, 1720/21 he resigned his office.

On the 8th March Parliament met to consider the conduct of the ex-Chancellor in the light of the investigations. Aislabie's "long, submissive, and pathetique speech" in his defence availed him nothing,, and the House found him guilty of "the most notorious, dangerous, and infamous corruption . . . in that he had encouraged and 9