his master at Hampton Court, where Charles was in constant fear of assassination. At Ashburnham's suggestion he made proposals to the Scottish commissioners for his sudden journey to London and personal treaty with the parliament. But the arrangement fell through. Charles was then impatient to be gone, commanded Ashburnham and his other confidants, Sir John Berkeley and William Legge, to propose some place for him to go to. Ashburnham mentioned Sir John Oglander's house in the Isle of Wight as a place where the king might be concealed. The plan was to sound out the governor of the island, Colonel Robert Hammond. If Hammond were not to be trusted, the fugitive Charles could secretly take ship for France. In the end Berkeley revealed the hiding-place to Hammond; Charles refused the desperate offer of Ashburnham to kill Hammond, and again became virtually a prisoner. Commonwealth period Subsequently, the Commonwealth authorities detained Ashburnham in the Tower of London and three times banished him to the Channel Islands. Ashburnham was parted from his master Charles by order of the parliament, 1 January 1648, was imprisoned in Windsor Castle (May), and when the Second English Civil War broke out was exchanged for Sir William Masham. He was not allowed to attend the king during the Treaty of Newport (August), and was included among the delinquents who were to expect no pardon (13 October). He was constantly harassed. He had acquired an estate by his second marriage with the Dowager Lady Poulett (1649) (Widow of John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett), and Charles II gave him permission to stay in England to preserve it. Royalists, however, suspected his fidelity, and (March 1650) in a memorial to the king asked whether they might trust him. He was sued for debts contracted for the late Charles I. He was forced to compound for one half of his estate, was bound in heavy securities to appear, when required, before the council of state, and his private journeys were licensed by a pass from the council. For three years he was asked by committees to discover who had lent the king money during the wars. His three banishments to Guernsey Castle were for sending money to the king. 1660 Restoration After the Restoration Ashburnham served Charles II as a diplomat; and he was Member of Parliament for Sussex between 1661 and 1667 in the Cavalier Parliament. In September 1661, he