Background
Ashcroft was born at Longsight, Manchester, son of Henry North Ashcroft, a Manchester merchant and his wife Charlotte.
Ashcroft was born at Longsight, Manchester, son of Henry North Ashcroft, a Manchester merchant and his wife Charlotte.
Ashcroft studied medicine at Owens College, Manchester, and became RMO at Dewsbury Smallpox Hospital.
They lived at 14 Birch Side Moss Side. He later became assistant Ministry of Health at Derby. Ashcroft made his cricket debut for Derbyshire in 1897 and remained with the team until 1906.
Ashcroft captained Derbyshire for part of 1904 although Albert Lawton who was captain in the preceding and succeeding years also captained games.
Ashcroft was a right hand batsman who played 170 innings in 101 first class matches. His highest score was 162 and his average 29.17.
He was a right arm off-break bowler who took 24 wickets with an average of 49.41. While he was captain, Derbyshire ended the season at 10th in the table.
Wisden described him as "a free-scoring batsman" who "drove and cut specially well".
Ashcroft was later Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator for Levenshulme. He died at Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire aged 80.
