Engineer Rear Admiral James Ashton (c1883-1951)
1952 Obituary [1]
We have noted with regret the death of Engineer Rear-Admiral James Ashton, D.S.O., which occurred at New Milton, Hants, on Sunday last, December 30th.
Rear-Admiral Ashton, who was sixty-eight, was formerly chief engineer at Bermuda Dockyard, from which appointment he retired in 1936.
Rear-Admiral Ashton was born at Huntingdon and was educated at Bedford Grammar School and the Royal Naval Engineering College, Devonport. In the first world war he served as an engineer officer in the destroyers "Murray", and "Taurus," and was awarded the D.S.O. in 1918.
Subsequently, after promotion to the rank of Engineer-Commander, Ashton served in the flotilla leader "Mackay."
In 1923 he was appointed to the staff of the Royal Naval Engineering College, Keyham, where he remained for three years, prior to appointment to the battle cruiser "Renown."
Ashton succeeded Engineer Captain C. E. Sutton as chief engineer of Bermuda Dockyard in 1934, and continued in that appointment for two years, when he retired with the rank of Engineer Rear-Admiral. On the outbreak of the second world war, however, he returned to duty and served at the Admiralty from 1939 to 1945.