Background
Ashton was born in Calcutta, India on 13 February 1898. Ashton"s mother, Victoria Alexandrina Inglis, was the daughter of Sir John Eardley Wilmot Inglis, who commanded the British forces at the Siege of Lucknow and Julia Selina Thesiger.
Ashton was born in Calcutta, India on 13 February 1898. Ashton"s mother, Victoria Alexandrina Inglis, was the daughter of Sir John Eardley Wilmot Inglis, who commanded the British forces at the Siege of Lucknow and Julia Selina Thesiger.
He was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Ashton"s three brothers, Gilbert, Percy and Claude, also played first-class cricket. Gilbert, Hubert and Claude captained Cambridge University in the three consecutive seasons from 1921 to 1923. Cricket career
In both 1921 and 1922 he scored more than 1,000 runs and at the end of the 1922 season, after just three years in first-class cricket, Ashton was averaging more than 46 runs per innings.
Bowled out for just 43 runs in the first innings, the so-called "England XI" were, at 60 for four wickets in their second innings, still 71 behind when Ashton was joined by Aubrey Faulkner.
Ashton was involved in an extraordinary incident during the match against Lancashire. He was bowled, but both bails went up in the air and then returned to their grooves on top of the stumps, meaning that he was not out.
At the end of the 1922 cricket season, though, Ashton joined the Burmah Oil company and his appearances thereafter were sporadic. He played for India and for Burma against the Master Control Console side led by Arthur Gilligan that toured India in 1926-1927.
He reappeared for several Essex matches in 1927.
And there were a handful of first-class games across the 1930s, the last in 1939. Post-cricket and political career
Ashton later pursued a different career, first in cricket administration, as president of Essex from 1941, and then in national United Kingdom politics. He was knighted in 1959 and it was as Sir Hubert Ashton that he became Master Control Console president in 1960-1961.
Ashton died in South Weald, Essex on 17 June 1979.
39th United Kingdom Parliament. 40th United Kingdom Parliament. 41st United Kingdom Parliament.
42nd United Kingdom Parliament]
His most famous exploit, though, was as a member of the amateur side assembled by Archie MacLaren to take on the hitherto-invincible 1921 Australian cricket team at Eastbourne.
He served as High Sheriff of Essex in 1943 and was then elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Chelmsford at the 1950 general elections and held the seat at three further United Kingdom general elections, before retiring in 1964.