Sir Samuel Astry ca.1631-1704
From Book Owners Online
Sir Samuel ASTRY ca.1631-1704
Biographical Note
Astry's ancestry and education are untraced – he is not in the University lists – but he became clerk to the Crown in the Court of King's Bench in 1677 and was knighted in 1683. His marriage to Elizabeth Morse in 1667 brought him an extensive estate at Henbury, Gloucestershire, where he built a fine house.
Books
There is no mention of books in Astry's will, which is primarily concerned with dividing his wealth among his children, with limited provision for his two sons, who appear to have had a reputation of being dissolute. His association with books is primarily around the attribution to him of an early armorial bookplate, possibly engraved by David Loggan, but the extent of Astry's library is unknown.
Characteristic Markings
The bookplate is reproduced in Lee.
Sources
- Will of Sir Samuel Astry, The National Archives PROB 11/477/467.
- Bristol & Avon Family History Society - Aust.
- Lee, B. N. British bookplates, 1979, no.8.