Annual Report of the Council. xlv 



consists in the leading part taken by him in extending, and placing 

 on a basis of permanent efficiency, a Manchester institution 

 which, before the close of his career, had taken the foremost place 

 among English University Colleges of the Victorian type. When, 

 in 1892, Mr. Ashton received the Freedom of the City of Man- 

 chester — the only public honour which he ever accepted — his 

 services to educational progress were justly placed in the fore- 

 front of the record of the benefits conferred by him on his native 

 county. 



Born at Hyde, in 18 18, as the descendant of an old and 

 wealthy Lancashire family of manufacturers, Mr. Ashton from his 

 early manhood onwards closely engaged in the business of the 

 great industrial house of which he was ultimately to become the 

 head. But from an early date he found ample opportunities 

 both for the exercise of a pohtical activity, of which it is sufficient 

 to say here that he came to be recognised, during a period of 

 many years, as one of the leaders of his party in the North of Eng- 

 land, and for exertions on behalf of the welfare and progress of 

 the population at large, as well as of those sections of it with 

 which he was brought into personal relations as an employer of 

 labour. He was one of the most active members of the Cotton 

 Famine Relief Committee of 1862, and was identified with the 

 success of the Arts Treasures Exhibition of 1857. He was 

 afterwards the first deputy - chairman of the Art Gallery 

 Committee of the Corporation, and was well known as a 

 private collector of remarkable judgment. For several years 

 he held the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of Hulme's 

 Charity, to the reconstitution of which his own efforts had 

 largely contributed, and the Treasurership of the Manchester 

 College (now at Oxford). He was also an active member 

 of the Governing Bodies of the Manchester Grammar School 

 and other institutions, among which he took a special interest 

 in the progress of the Technical School at Hyde. He was for 

 many years a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for 

 Lancashire, and in 1884, held the office of High Sheriff of the 

 County. 



