Thomas Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde

The Right Honourable
The Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Right Honourable The Lord Ashton of Hyde
	Ashton in 1895
Personal details
Born	5 February 1855
Died	1 May 1933 (aged 78)
Spouse(s)	Eva Margaret James
Parents	Thomas Ashton (father); Elizabeth Gair (mother);

Thomas Gair Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde (5 February 1855 – 1 May 1933), was a British industrialist, philanthropist, Liberal politician, and peer.

Early life and career[]

Ashton was born at Fallowfield, Manchester, Lancashire, the son of Thomas Ashton (died 1898) and Elizabeth Gair, daughter of of Rhode Island. Ashton was baptised on the 5th February 1855. The Ashton family had been prominent in the cotton and cloth manufacturing industry for many years. He was educated at Rugby and University College, Oxford, and later managed the family business. Ashton was elected to the House of Commons for Hyde in 1885, but lost his seat the following year. Ashton then became wedded to Eva Margret James in 1866 at All Saints Church. He unsuccessfully contested the same seat again in 1892, but in 1895 he was returned for Luton, seat he held until 1911. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Ashton of Hyde, in the County of Chester. During the First World War he served as Chairman of the Cotton Exports Committee. Apart from his political career Ashton was a Justice of the Peace for Cheshire and Sussex and was invested as an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University in 1923.

Family[]

Two of Lord Ashton's sisters married Lupton brothers; Sir Charles Lupton to Katharine and Arthur Lupton to Harriet. Lord Ashton's first cousin, Helen Potter (née Leech), was the mother of Beatrix Potter.^[1]^[2] Ashton married , daughter of John Henry James and his wife , in 1886. They had four children, two sons and two daughters:

(8 October 1887 – 20 September 1897)
(born 1890); married Major Robert Wood.
(born 1893); married Hugh Whistler.
Thomas Henry Raymond Ashton (2 October 1901 – 21 March 1983); succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Ashton of Hyde.

Death[]

He died on 1 May 1933, aged 78, in Robertsbridge, Sussex and was succeeded in the title by his second but eldest surviving son Thomas Henry Raymond Ashton. Lady Ashton of Hyde died in 1938.

References[]

Footnotes

^ Walker, Tim (22 July 2014). "Duchess of Cambridge is related to Beatrix Potter". The Daily Telegraph. p. 8.
^ Reed, Michael (5 April 2015). "Duchess of Cambridge not posh? Her ancestor was lord mayor of Leeds". Guardian. UK. Retrieved 1 January 2016. Sir Charles Lupton, was lord mayor of Leeds, and the brother of Kate's great-great-grandfather Francis. His wife's brother was Thomas Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde (also a northerner).

Sources

Legg, L. G. Wickham Legg (editor). The Dictionary of National Biography, 1931-1940. Oxford University Press, 1949.
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,^{[page needed]}
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]}^{[better source needed]}
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
Lundy, Darryl. "p. 2974 § 29732". thepeerage.com.^{[unreliable source]}

External links[]

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Ashton

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Hyde 1885–1886	Succeeded by Joseph Watson Sidebotham
Preceded by Samuel Whitbread	Member of Parliament for Luton 1895–1911	Succeeded by Cecil Harmsworth
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Ashton of Hyde 1911–1933	Succeeded by Thomas Ashton

[1] Walker, Tim (22 July 2014). "Duchess of Cambridge is related to Beatrix Potter". The Daily Telegraph. p. 8.

[2] Reed, Michael (5 April 2015). "Duchess of Cambridge not posh? Her ancestor was lord mayor of Leeds". Guardian. UK. Retrieved 1 January 2016. Sir Charles Lupton, was lord mayor of Leeds, and the brother of Kate's great-great-grandfather Francis. His wife's brother was Thomas Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde (also a northerner).

[1]

[2]