Edward Ashley

 

The Census return for 1841 at 9 John Street, Clerkenwell, indicated 3 generations of watchmakers with the same name, Edward Ashley, under the same roof.  The youngest, aged just six, Edward Francis Ashley, is the main subject of this article.  At that time his father was thirty and his grandfather fifty.  Of the latter, not much is known.  He married Mary Manser and established a watchmaking business with her brother, Robert Manser.  In tracing the history of the Ashleys, the earliest two documentary records found are for fire insurance by the Royal Exchange company for Manser and Ashley at 34 Rosamond Street, Clerkenwell, in the years 1817 and 1823.  This address was a long-standing business premises for the partnership through to the 1840s.  A separate Royal Exchange record indicates Ashley’s residence as 31 Cross Street.  Not until 1861 is the partnership seen to have relocated – to 16 Garnault Place, Clerkenwell.¹

From the early era, one Ashley watch is known to be extant.  This was featured in Antiquarian Horology, June 1964:

Fig.1. Ashley & Manser Deck Watch, Courtesy AHS

This I take to be the work of ‘Edward I,’ (the grandfather), born circa 1791.  His son, ‘Edward II,’ (the father), born 1811, may have been resident and trading from the Cross Street address mentioned above.

Edward II married Elizabeth Briggs in 1834 and their first child, Edward Francis Ashley, (Edward III), was born 11 June 1835.  A further son, William, and daughter, Emily, were born in 1846 and 1843 respectively.

Edward III was apprenticed to his father in 1849, this arrangement being confirmed by the 1851 Census return for 7 Lower Islington Terrace, Edward II being recorded as a ‘watch escapement maker,’ this being, apparently, a specialism common to all three generations, as by the time of the next Census – 1861 – Edward III was also thus described.  He had married Annie Arnott the previous year and they were living with her parents at 20 St John Street, Clerkenwell.

In 1871 the family had grown with Edward and Annie having four children, (and subsequently, a further two), and they had moved to 10 Dunford Road, Holloway.  His father was nearby, at number 4.  Another ten years on and there were now six children, and they were living in a larger residence, further out of town, at 38 Blythwood Road, Crouch End.  Whilst he had called himself simply a ‘watchmaker’ in 1871, he now opted for ‘lever escapement maker.’  The business location remained in the traditional Clerkenwell area, at 2 Green Terrace, with the trading name, Edward Ashley & Son.

The second of Edward’s sons, Frank, is shown on the 1891 Census as an ‘Assistant Watchmaker.’  As an indication of further enhanced affluence, there was by then a servant, and the family domicile was even more ‘out of town,’ in suburban Palmers Green.  For some measure of explanation of the firm’s profitability and the family’s consequent relative wealth, a review of Edward’s horological reputation-building activities is helpful.

Ashley developed a flair for business and marketing to complement an above-average technical ability.  His interest in commercial innovation served him well, as shown by this extract from his obituary:

Fig.2. From The Horological Journal, August 1908

Another marketing channel arose through the exponential expansion of global trading, which during the course of the nineteenth century had greatly increased demand for Marine Chronometers, these timepieces providing the most reliable means of determining a ship’s position and thus supporting accurate navigation across the high seas.  The instrument was however required to be housed securely below decks, whereas for a variety of purposes the accurate establishment on-deck of the current time was often necessary.  Thus portable chronometers known as Deck Watches were manufactured in increasing numbers, often by makers who had previously produced ‘Pocket Chronometers’ to meet a demand based on fashion and one-upmanship.  Whilst a Pocket Chronometer could impress by its look and feel, a Deck Watch version really had to deliver on accuracy.  Accordingly, at both The Royal Observatory, Greenwich and at the King Observatory, Kew, trials were established in the 1880s to objectively test their time keeping reliability.  Edward’s response to these initiatives was enthusiastic and he regularly submitted his Deck Watches to both establishments.  He was rewarded by some extremely good results, the advertisement of which clearly supported the promotion of his sales.  The most notable ratings achieved by Ashley’s watches are summarised below:

Kew:

1885	First and Fifth
1886	First
1888	Fourth
1889	First and Third
1890	Fifth and Sixth

 Greenwich

1887	Third
1889	Fifteenth and Sixteenth
1890	First and Sixth

As a confirmation of quality, it is notable that in 1887 at Greenwich, for instance, Ashley’s name appeared in the table of results above those of such illustrious makers as Poole, Brockbank & Atkins and Dent.  Several issues of the British Horological Journal of those times featured this headlines results table:

Fig.3. From The Horological Journal, November 1888

This Greenwich table enables a better appreciation of the quality and extent of Ashley’s competitors:

Fig.4. From The Horological Journal, April 1890

Just to add a little balance, it should be reported that an Ashley watch is not featured in the results table for 1888 – the one timepiece entered - #3622 - broke down after the fifth week of the trial.  However, this watch redeemed itself by being placed first in the 1890 trial at Greenwich. 

From this period of the trials, this watch is a representative example:

Fig.5. Watch #3012. Courtesy of Martin Rosen

Fig.6. Movement of #3012. Courtesy of Martin Rosen

Ashley’s successes at Greenwich and Kew helped raise his standing in the horological Establishment and in 1885 he was elected to the Council of The Horological Society.²

Edward’s wife, Annie, died early in 1892 and within a month or two he re-married – to Harriett Moore.  These matters, together with the death of his father in 1890, prompted a decision in 1895 to retire, and, three years later, to get away from the bustle of the capital city.  Thus, by the next Census, in 1901, he was living with Harriett and a servant in Mortimer, Hampshire.  There he saw out his days until his death in June 1908.  Eighteen years previously his father had left just £290 - £37,000 in 2019 terms.  His own estate amounted to £8,688 – a contemporary value of a little over £1,000,000: a good indication of his business achievements, underpinned to a considerable extent by his technical expertise and consequently excellent, marketable products, as testified by those results at the Greenwich and Kew trials. 

But what of legacy in terms of the Ashley brand?  On first sight, none, for Edward’s eldest son, Edward Henry, started journeying to the US in 1889, subsequently settled in California, was naturalised in 1895 and prospered as a West Coast farmer until his death in 1930.  As for his brother, Frank, though working with his father in 1891, he was described as a bank clerk in the 1901 and 1911 Censuses.  It is possible, however, that Frank drew on his practical experience of watchmaking, and/or utilised a facilitated access to investment funds, and formed a partnership to capitalise on the Ashley name for horological sales purposes.  This partnership may have been with watchmaker, Edwin Sims, who, in 1939, was recorded as a ‘working watchmaker to the Trade,’ and living in Radnor Road, Harrow.  One ‘Ashley & Sims’ watch is extant:

Fig.7. Movement of #6012. Courtesy of Martin Rosen

The case carries a 1914 hallmark, and, regrettably, this is the last evidence of the Ashley name in connection with watch manufacturing. 

Footnotes:

1 Collinsons Directory, 1861: Watch Escapement Manufacturers: Manser and Ashley, 16 Garnault Place

2 As reported in The Horological Journal, January 1886, p65