The Ashton Brothers

‘We thank thee, we praise thee, we bless thee O Lord, for Hubert, Percy, Gilbert and
Claude,’ - so goes the old Winchester College song, and for good reason. Sporting prowess ran in the Ashton family - all four brothers were Blues at Cambridge and also excelled in football. Gilbert, Hubert and Claude all captained the university team in the three consecutive
seasons from 1921 to 1923.

Awarded the Military Cross in the first world war, Hubert (1898-1979) went on to play for Essex scoring more than 1,000 runs in both 1921 and 1922. He was knighted in 1959 in recognition of his services as an MP.

In 1923, Claude (1901- 1942, pictured above) succeeded Percy as captain of the
university’s cricket team amassing 916 runs and claiming 50 wickets with his medium-pace bowling, together with 21 catches. He played for Essex between 1934 and 1938, his career
cut tragically short when he died in a mid-air training accident during the Second World War.