# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ashley, John

From volume 1 of the work.
​ASHLEY, John, a performer on the bassoon at the end of the last century. In 1784 he was assistant conductor, under Joah Bates, at the commemoration of Handel in Westminster Abbey, where his name also appears as playing the double bassoon, employed to strengthen the bass of the choruses. [App. p.524 "It seems certain that the performer on the bassoon was not the same as the assistant conductor of the commemoration of Handel. The 'Mr. Ashley of the Guards' who played the double bassoon on that occasion was most probably a brother of John Ashley's, named Jane, who was born in 1740 and died Apr. 5, 1809. John Ashley died March 2, 1805. [See vol. ii. 402 a, note 3.]"] In 1795 he undertook the direction of the Lent 'oratorios' at Covent Garden. These performances, which took place on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, were originated by Handel, under whose direction, and afterwards that of Smith and Arnold, they were correctly designated—that is, they consisted of an entire oratorio or musical drama. Under Ashley's management this character was lost, and the performances (with few exceptions) were made up of selections, including every class of music, sacred and secular, 'in most admired disorder.' It was at these oratorios that Braham obtained celebrity by his fine rendering of sacred music. For many years Ashley and his four sons visited different parts of England, giving what they called 'Grand Musical Festivals.' The father and sons performed themselves, and with some popular singer, and a little provincial help, they contrived to interest the public, and to fill their own pockets. On the death of Dr. Boyce, Ashley bought the plates of his 'Cathedral Music,' and the second edition (1788) bears his name as the publisher. He died in 1805.
Ashley, General, his eldest son, was a pupil of Giardini and Barthelemon, and a fair performer on the violin, of which instrument he was considered an excellent judge. He was scarcely known out of his father's orchestra. He died in 1818. [App. p.524 "His son, General Charles, took part with two of his brothers in the Handel Commemoration, and got into trouble by nailing the coat of some Italian violinist to his seat, and filling his violin with halfpence. (Dict. of Nat. Biog.)"] Ashley, Charles Jane, born in 1773, was a performer of considerable excellence on the violoncello. In conjunction with his brother, 'the General' (as he was always called), he carried on the oratorios after his father's death. He had great reputation as an accompanyist, and was considered second only to Lindley. He was one of the founders of the Glee Club in 1793, an original member of the Philharmonic Society, and for some years Secretary to the Royal Society of Musicians. Nearly twenty years of his life were passed in the rules of the King's Bench Prison. In the latter part of his career (when nearly 70), he became the proprietor of the Tivoli Gardens, Margate, the anxieties of which undertaking hastened his death, which occurred on Aug. 20, 1843. Another of Ashley's sons, John James, born 1771 [App. p.524 "1772"], was a pupil of Johann Schroeter, and a good organ and pianoforte player. He is remembered as an excellent singing-master, numbering among his pupils Mrs. Vaughan, Mrs. Salmon, Master Elliot (afterwards the glee composer), Charles Smith, &c. He died Jan 5, 1815.
[ E. F. R. ]