Francis Denzil Edward Baring was born on 20 July 1866, the son of Alexander Hugh Baring, 4th Baron Ashburton. His mother was Hon.Leonora Caroline Digby, daughter of the 9th Baron Digby, and granddaughter of Henry Fox-Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester. He had family connections to the German and British Baring family of bankers, also the American statesman William Bingham, and the Duc de Bassano, 12th Prime Minister of France. He succeeded to the title on 18 July 1889. He was an officer in the Hampshire Yeomanry (Carabiniers) from 1900 and reached the rank of major. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire and sat in the House of Lords.
He was married twice. Firstly on 25 July 1889 ( a week after the death of his father) to Hon. Mabel Edith Hood, daughter of the 4th Viscount Hood of Whiteley. Francis and Mabel were married at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London. They had 5 children; 4 daughters and a son. Mabel died on 18 Jan 1904. Lord Ashburton married secondly the American actress Frances Donnelly, on 19 Feb 1906, at the Mairie in Paris. They had no children. He was a noted yachtsman and was on RMS Queen Mary sailing from New York to England when he died of a heart attack on 27 March 1938, aged 71. His widow, Frances, died on 31 March 1859.
The photo of Lord Ashburton was taken by Lafayette on 17 March 1900 when he was a second lieutenant. He wears the blue undress uniform of the Hampshire Carabiniers with the gold-laced dress pouch-belt. The photo is courtesy of the V&A.
