Provenance: Formerly in the Sir David Salomons Collection, No. 24. Sold at Christie's, London, as lot 28, catalogue part Il, on 1 June 1965. Exhibition: This watch was exhibited in Paris at the Palais Galliéra, in October 1923, on the centenary of the death of Abraham-Louis Breguet, Cat. No. 188. Literature: Illustrated and described in G. Daniels, The Art of Breguet, p. 266, fig. 318 a-c.
BERTRAM ASHBURNHAM 4th Earl of Ashburnham Viscount St. Asaph (1797 - 1878) Born on 23 November 1797, third son of George, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham, and Lady Sonia Thynne, daughter of the Marquess of Bath. He married Katherine, daughter of George Baillie and sister of George, 10th Earl of Haddington. Their son, Bertram succeeded to the title on his father's death in 1878. The Ashburnham family (originally written as Esseburnham) derives its name from the river Ashburn in Sussex, England. Notably one of the oldest families in England and described by Fuller in his 'Worthies' ".. as a family of stupendous antiquity.." and Francis Thynn, in his catalogue of the ' Cinque Ports, and Constables of Dover Castle', mentions a certain "Bertram Ashburnham, a Baron of Kent, was Constable of Dover Castle, A.D. 1066; which Bertram was beheaded by William the Conqueror, because he did so valiantly defend the same against the Duke of Normandy". In the reign of Henry III, Sir Bartholomew, son of Sir Richard de Esburnham, fought for the king in Gascony against the King of Castile. Later generations were made sheriff of the counties of Surrey and Sussex, and represented them in Parliament. In 1604, John Ashburnham was knighted in the Tower of London, and his son became a renowned soldier. Having distinguished himself during the Civil Wars, he became Major General of the Royal Army and Colonel General of the county of Dorset, and after the Restoration was appointed cofferer to the King. John's elder brother William also held a high position as groom of the bedchamber to Charles I, and following the Restoration he held the same position under Charles II. William was a true loyalist, being one of the very few men to help the King flee Hampton Court in 1647, but was however captured by Cromwell and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he remained until the Protector's death in 1658. In 1689, his grandson, John was elevated to the peerage as 1st Baron Ashburnham. In 1730, John, 3rd. Baron of Ashburnham and gentleman of the bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, was created 1st Earl of Ashburnham and Viscount St. Asaph.