v PROFESSOR AT OWENS COLLEGE in 



would almost amount to a crime. Of all business 

 men of high distinction whom I have known, his name 

 in my mind stands out pre-eminent. A man of strong 

 common sense, of great business capacity and powerful 

 will, Thomas Ashton was one of those clear, straight- 

 forward men whom to meet was a satisfaction and 

 whom to know was not only to respect but to love. 

 He was fortunately an intimate friend of ours, and in 

 the early days of Owens College, when we were 

 struggling for existence and when the only hope of 

 our ever making our way out of the narrow ruts into 

 which we had fallen was to secure the co-operation 

 and sympathy of some of the generous and far-seeing 

 men in Manchester, I walked up to Ashton's house in 

 Didsbury one Sunday and said to him : " You must 

 help us in placing this college of ours on a footing 

 worthy of the city." To this he objected, with the 

 remark that the Governors of the private Trust were 

 strong Churchmen and mainly Tories, with whom he 

 had little sympathy. The place, he said, was mori- 

 bund, and he did not like to undertake the task of 

 resuscitation. I knew that I should not succeed at 

 once, and that when Ashton had once put his foot 

 down it was not easy to make him move it ; but at 

 length I won, not only his co-operation, but his ardent 

 enthusiasm, and it was mainly owing to his exertions 

 and his powerful advocacy that we succeeded in 

 getting the ear of the Manchester public, which also 

 meant its pocket. I was always glad to show honour 

 to my friend, especially because he would never 

 attempt to gain honour for himself. No statue, not 

 even a portrait, of Thomas Ashton adorns the walls of 

 the college for which he did so much, for against 

 every kind of post-mortem distinction he set his face 

 irrevocably. All the more, therefore, did I value any 



