A London four with Dennis Ashton at bow; Peter Barnes at 2; Kees Vlasman (Dennis' Dutch Vice-Captain) at 3; and C M Davis, who went on to be an Oxford blue 1960-62, at stroke.
The Club has lost a number of senior members over the winter and we were sorry to learn about the passing of our oldest, Dennis Ashton, who was 93 years old and a past Captain in the late 1950s. He was probably also the last remaining member to have served in World War II.
Dennis was born in 1925, so he would have been just old enough to have served in the latter years of the War, it is thought with the Royal Engineers in Burma. He joined London in January 1951, when he stated his occupation on his application form to be ‘installation engineer (aircraft)’; his proposer was C M Momtchiloff. We do not know where or when Dennis started his rowing, but his most successful Henley was the following year, 1952, when the Club’s second eight reached the semi-finals of the Thames Challenge Cup, losing to the eventual winners, Pennsylvania University. A stroke side man, Dennis in addition rowed for the Club in each of the following years 1953 to 1956 and again in 1958-59, when he was Captain for two years. He had previously served as a Vice-Captain. He became a Life Member in 1957.
The 1950s were not an easy decade in which to be a captain. There was an expectation from those who had rowed in the successful 1930s crews that London should enter the Grand and Stewards as a matter of course; a lean period of results in sweep oar events contrasted however with the club’s notable success in sculling when the Club had a more or less unbroken run of wins in the Wingfield Sculls from 1948 to 1961, and Tony Fox twice won the Diamonds. London was the club of choice for scullers. A contemporary has written to say that Dennis was “a very warm and friendly man who was always cheerful and encouraging” despite the difficulties. He bought the Club’s first ergo from Australia (where the machine was invented) and had it installed in the rowing tank area. He trained very hard and expected others to do the same too.
Away from the river, Dennis was an experienced and well qualified engineer and management consultant, running his own firm, Ashton Engineering & Industrial Consultants, based in Sloane Street. This included providing training courses in the application of methods – time measurement (MTM), a novel discipline for those years. He enjoyed applying his technical skills to rowing, inventing a device for measuring the speed of a boat. He tried his hand at producing a sci-fi space film. He was a ballroom dancer.
Dennis’ funeral on 20 March was at East Sheen Cemetery, followed by a wake at the clubhouse. A highlight amongst the memorabilia on display in the Long Room was a scrapbook he had kept with black and white photos of all his crews, with everyone’s names carefully written underneath.
The Club has lost a good friend, and one whom we will remember fondly.
Julian Ebsworth
