page_title: William Aislabie (1700–1781)
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: William Aislabie (1700–1781) / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Kirkby Hall The Hall associated with the nearby village of Kirkby Fleetham was built in the late 18th C.
context_page_description: William Aislabie of Studley Royal, North Yorkshire was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons for over 60 years from 1721 to 1781. His long unbroken service in the House of Commons was only surpassed, more than 100 years after his death, by the 63 years achieved by Charles Pelham Villiers at Wolverhampton.
context_section_description: Aislabie's father bought Kirkby Fleetham estate for him in North Yorkshire on reaching his age of majority, c.1722 and he was first elected as Member of Parliament for Ripon on 17 May 1721  In the immediate aftermath of his father's disgrace for his connection with the South Sea Bubble, Aislabie's brother John Aislabie Jr. had previously held the seat. In 1721 William Aislabie actually partnered (in the then two-member seat) his uncle of the same name and for a later part of the time his cousin, also named William Aislabie.  
  He served continuously as the MP for Ripon until his death in 1781, a period of 60 years 47 days, reaching the position of Father of the House of Commons in 1768. His last recorded speech in the House, on the Duke of Bridgewater's Canals Bill, was made in 1770, he last voted in 1773, and in 1779, The Public Ledger journal commented: "His age and infirmities do not allow him to attend."
  In 1738 Aislabie was also appointed as an Auditor of the Imprests, and from 1749 until his death was registrar of the consistory court of the Diocese of York.
  On his father's death in 1742 he inherited the Studley estate and in 1768 purchased the adjacent Fountains estate for £16,000. Aislabie then spent large amounts of time and energy developing one of England's finest water gardens on the estate.
caption: Kirkby Fleetham Hall, North Yorkshire
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "K610i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "R1CD001     prgCXC1250539_HUTCHISON 0.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:08:27 17:07:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "258", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "736", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3641", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:08:27 17:07:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:08:27 17:07:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "600", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Night", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}