Julian Howard Ashton (9 August 1877 – 30 April 1964), often referred to as Howard Ashton, was a journalist, writer, artist and critic born in England, who had a considerable career in Australia.

History

Ashton was born in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London, a son of

Julian Rossi Ashton Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery '' ...

and his wife Eliza Ann Pugh, who with their family moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1878, and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

five years later, where his father founded his famous art school. Ashton became a junior shipping reporter of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' but, two years later, he moved to

, where he was given the position of reporter by '' The Argus''. He also drew portraits for the ''

Sydney Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', also nicknamed ''The Tele'', is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Saturday a ...

'' in his late teenage years and early adulthood. By his early twenties, Ashton had become a well-known figure in the local media and newspaper companies, writing music, literary and art reviews. He was given the title of music critic in 1910. Ashton was celebrated for his short stories in '' The Bulletin'', following which success he began selling his paintings in art galleries, then began writing for British magazines such as ''

Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed int ...

'' and ''

Chambers's Journal ''Chambers's Edinburgh Journal'' was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was so ...

''. He became a respected and dedicated member of magazines and newspaper companies. He resumed his criticism of music, and other arts in 1926, when he was made an associate editor. Ashton had never worked as a full-time artist; however despite this, in 1938 he won the ''Sydney sesquicentenary prize for landscape drawings''. Ashton was, as well as an artist, a musician who had been known to entertain guests and lodgers at his

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

house; it was because of this that the suggestion of forming the first Sydney String Quartet was put forward. Ashton was an amateur entomologist specializing in

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s. He was president of the Royal Art Society from 1942 to 1945 or later (his father held that office 1897–1898 and 1907–1921). Ashton died at age 86 in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and was cremated.

Family

Ashton was the eldest child of artist Julian Rossi Ashton and Eliza Ann, née Pugh, his first wife. While attending his father's art school, Ashton began a relationship with Mary Ethel Roberts (died 18 December 1945), whom he married on 24 January 1908. Together, they had three sons and one daughter. A month after his wife's death, Ashton resigned from ''The Sun'' in order to devote his time to painting and reading, and to be closer to his family. Their third son, J(ulian) Richard Ashton, and his wife Edith Wondreda "Wenda" Ashton, née Smith, ran the

Julian Ashton Art School The Julian Ashton Art School was established by Julian Ashton in 1890 as the "Academy Julian", (perhaps a reference to the Académie Julian in Paris) has been an influential art school in Australia. For a long time it was known as the Sydney Art ...

from 1960.

Sources

Australia Dictionary of Biography:
Online edition, for Ashton, Julian Howard. Retrieved on 01/10/2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, John Howard 1877 births 1964 deaths English emigrants to Australia People from Islington (district) Australian music critics Australian male short story writers 20th-century Australian male artists 20th-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian male writers Julian Ashton Art School alumni The Sydney Morning Herald people Australian male journalists