Lesley David: Ashley was educated at Dulwich College.  He took up Refrigeration Engineering joining J & E Hall & Company as an apprentice in 1925.  He worked at the port in Stockport as well as Liverpool where he installed refrigeration into the ships being built especially for the meat trade between UK and South America.  In 1931 [approx] he was sent out to Nairobi to install the Refrigeration plant for the Kenya Meat Commission at Athi River.  At this point in time the Colony had expanded.  Farmers were doing well with beef cattle so there was a surplus that if chilled could be used for export.   The Managing Agents were G. B. Nicholas & Co. Ltd.  Ashley was taken under the wing of Ged Nicholas who owned this small Import Export Company.  Eventually Ged persuaded him to join the company as a Junior Partner.   This meant he gave up his engineering career.

Ged Nicholas also had a dairy farm at Kikuyu called Belvedere Farm.  Even in the 1930’s Ged was able to commute to Nairobi by car on what were probably terrible roads.  At the outbreak of WW2 Ged re-joined the RAF as a fighter pilot.  It is said he lied about his age and had joined up with the RAF for WW1 becoming a fighter pilot.  In 1941 he was posted to Egypt.   He left Ashley in charge of the Company. Unfortunately Ged died in an accident in 1942.  He had been instructed to fly Lady Tedder and her party to a Cocktail party in Cairo.  [This is well documented online as Wing Commander Arthur William Tedder  - became Lord Tedder - was in charge in North Africa at the time]  The plane hit a severe sand storm and all on board died.  Ashley was asked by the family to continue to run the business which he did until it was sold to B.E.A Corporation where he continued to manage the business.  B.E.A Corp was eventually sold to Mitchell Cotts.  Ashley retired circa 1968 and went to work at a Stockbrokers Firm.  

In 1938 a piece of land in Kikuyu of about 750 acres became available for sale.  Ged Nicholas bought 500 acres and Ashley the 250 acres. At the time the 250 acres was a Wattle Plantation.  In 1940 he built a house there which became the family home.  Like Ged he commuted to Nairobi.  With the arrival of diesel locomotives circa 1952 there was soon no need for wattle to fuel the steam trains.  Ashley and Jeanette transferred the land into a dairy farm.  Jeanette was the farmer whilst Ashley continued to Manage G.B.Nicholas & Co. Ld.   This farm was eventually sold in 1970 and was split up into 10 acre plots by the African who bought it.  Ashley and Jeanette moved to Kitisuru and eventually into a Moundsmere flat opposite the Muthaiga Country Club.

His wife was appointed MBE in 1988 for “Services to the Community in Kenya”.  In her term of office as President of the EAWL her project was to help Establish a Children’s Cancer Ward at the Kenyatta Hospital.