A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices/Asgill, John
Amitted 4 Mar, 1686.
Second son of Edward Asgill, of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, where he was born. He was called to the Bar 6 May, 1692, and practised with much success in Ireland, where he became a Member of Parliament. In the first Parliament after the Union he was elected for Bramber, but being then a prisoner in the Fleet, he was unable to attend. By a resolution of the House, however, he was discharged from custody, and permitted to take his seat. Subsequently he was expelled for the publication of a book or pamphlet deemed blasphemous, and replaced in the Fleet. Here he remained till his death in 1738.
He was the author of the following publications: Several Assertions proved, in order to create another Species of Money than Gold and Silver (1700); Argument proving that Men may he translated to Heaven without dying (1700); An Essay on a Registry for Titles of Lands (1701); Reflections on the Same; De Jure Divino, showing the Title of the House of Hanover to the Succession of the British Monarchy (1710); His Defence on his Expulsion from the House of Commons, with Introduction and Postscript (1712); The Pretender's Declaration (1713); The Succession of the House of Hanover vindicated (1714); The Metamorphosis of Man (1727).