I have always enjoyed ancestry programmes like Who Do You Think You Are?, but sadly I know that my family has no royal connections. This Ashenden is descended from a line of smugglers, pirates and (latterly) lawyers and writers. My most exalted ancestor was almost certainly Sir William Ashenden. He was a Romney Marsh manorial second son; most likely a smuggler, he turned pirate, and ended up being knighted after the Battle of Cadiz.
That Ashenden did his pirating under Sir Walter Raleigh, and was one of his captains. In the 1590s Raleigh and his sailors preyed on Spanish shipping, outside the law. In 1596, however, Raleigh morphed from privateer to Royal Navy admiral and led the siege of Cadiz. The battle was astonishingly successful, and produced such political and royal favour that Elizabeth I knighted all Raleigh’s captains in honour of the spectacular victory. And so it was that William Ashenden – who ran away to sea to join Raleigh, having grown tired of farming and smuggling in the Romney Marsh – returned home as “Sir William”, bearing a new coat of arms.
