Place Name
As with Evelyn Road, it is named after Anthony Evelyn Melbourne Ashley (July 24, 1836 – November 15, 1907) was a barrister and Liberal politician, who served as private secretary to the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and later published a biography of him – it is believed that Palmerston was in fact his grandfather on his mother’s side (he later inherited his Irish estates). After entering Parliament at a by-election as MP for the Isle of Wight in 1864, Ashley served under William Ewart Gladstone as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade and as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. In his obituary The Times said of him: “In the House of Commons Mr Ashley achieved no special distinction. He was a painstaking and courteous official, a fluent and agreeable speaker, but seldom displayed much vigour, wether in administration or debate.” But it is not for his political career that he is remembered here. He was the third child and second son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Emily Cowper. The family owned a property called Rosedale Cottage bought by his grandfather, the 6th Earl, in 1805. The house was extended and renamed Shaftesbury House, which later became part of the Royal Hospital. The estate was sold for development in 1866. This street, on the other side of Kew Road, was initially a continuation of Evelyn Road but it was separated by 1894.
