Sir Ralph Assheton, 2nd Baronet, of Middleton

Sir Ralph Assheton, 2nd Baronet (11 February 1651 – 3 May 1716) of Middleton Hall and Whalley Abbey, Lancashire, was an English landowner and politician who represented Liverpool (1677–79) and Lancashire (1694–98) as a Member of Parliament.

Early life Baptised on 19 February 1651 in Middleton in Lancashire, he was the son of Sir Ralph Assheton, 1st Baronet, of Middleton, and Anne Assheton, daughter of Sir Ralph Assheton, 1st Baronet, of Great Lever. Assheton was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1668. In 1665, he succeeded to his father's baronetcy and in 1696, he inherited the family's estates in Downham near Whalley, Lancashire from his uncle Sir John Assheton, 4th Baronet, of Lever.

Family Assheton had married firstly Mary Vavasour, the daughter of Thomas Vavasour of Spaldington, Yorkshire, with whom he had one son (who predeceased him) and three daughters. He married, secondly, to Mary Hyde, the daughter of Robert Hyde of Denton, Lancashire. His daughter Catherine Assheton (d.1728) married Thomas Lister (1688–1745).