Background
Baring was the eldest son of Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton and his wife Anne Louisa, daughter of William Bingham.
Baring was the eldest son of Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton and his wife Anne Louisa, daughter of William Bingham.
He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated in classics in 1821.
He received a Master of Arts in 1836 and a Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law in 1856. He was elected as a Whig in 1832 and 1835, and from 1837 as a Tory. He served under Sir Robert Peel as Joint Secretary to the Board of Control from 1841 to 1845 and as Paymaster-General, with a seat in the cabinet, from 1845 to 1846.
In 1845 he was sworn of the Privy Council.
In 1848 he succeeded his father in the barony and entered the House of Lords. He was a commandeur of the Légion d"honneur, awarded for his services to commerce.
He served as captain in the Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry and was a Deputy Lieutenant for that county. In 1854 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
One of his on-going legacies is the National Rifle Association"s competition for the Ashburton Shield which was donated by Lord Ashburton in 1861.
Their only child, Alexander Montagu Baring (1828–1830), died as an infant. Lady Harriet died on 4 May 1857, aged 51. They had one daughter, the Honorary
Mary Florence, born on 26 June 1860 at Bath House, Piccadilly, London (a site now occupied by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), who married William Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton.
Lord Ashburton died at The Grange, Hertfordshire, in March 1864, aged 64. Lady Ashburton subsequently had an intimate relationship with the sculptor Harriet Hosmer.
She died in London in February 1903, aged 75. The Ashburton River in New Zealand and the town of the same name located on the river were named by the chief surveyor of the Canterbury Association, Joseph Thomas, after Lord Ashburton.
Royal Society; 8th United Kingdom Parliament. 9th United Kingdom Parliament. 11th United Kingdom Parliament.
12th United Kingdom Parliament.
13th United Kingdom Parliament. 14th United Kingdom Parliament.
15th United Kingdom Parliament. Royal Geographical Society]
Baring sat as Member of Parliament for Thetford between 1826 and 1830 and 1841 and 1848, for Callington between 1830 and 1831, for Winchester between 1832 and 1837 and for Staffordshire North between 1837 and 1841.
Baring was a member of the Canterbury Association from 27 May 1848.