Sir Ralph de Ashton was an officer of state under Edward IV of England

Edward IV of England

Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...

.

Early life

Ashton was the half-brother of Sir Thomas de Ashton

Thomas de Ashton (alchemist)

Sir Thomas de Ashton or Assheton , was an English alchemist.Ashton was born in 1403, the son and heir of Sir John de Ashton, of Ashton-under-Lyne, who died in 1428. His half-brother Ralph de Ashton seems to have inherited the main family home, Ashton Hall...

 the alchemist [see Ashton or Assheton, Sir Thomas de, fl. 1446], and the son of the Ashton mentioned by Froissart [see Ashton, Sir John de, fl. 1370]. His mother was Margaret, daughter of Sir John Byron

John Byron

Vice Admiral The Hon. John Byron, RN was a Royal Navy officer. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with weather.-Early career:...

 of Clayton

Clayton

-Australia:*Clayton, Victoria*Clayton, South Australia*Electoral district of Clayton, an electoral district in Victoria-United Kingdom:*Clayton, Greater Manchester, in the City of Manchester*Clayton, South Yorkshire...

. In his seventeenth year he was one of the pages of honour to Henry VI

Henry VI of England

Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...

, and at the same early age he married Margaret, the heiress of the Bartons of Middleton, and became the founder of the family that held the lordship there until the last century, when it passed by the female line to the holders of the Suffield

Suffield

Suffield may refer to:* Suffield, Alberta, or Canadian Forces Base Suffield which is located to the north.* Suffield, Connecticut, USA* Suffield Township, Ohio, USA* Suffield, Norfolk, England* Suffield, North Yorkshire, England...

 peerage.

Offices

Ralph Ashton was a man of influence, and in the reign of Edward IV he held various offices. He was High Sheriff of Yorkshire

High Sheriff of Yorkshire

The High Sheriff of Yorkshire was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. A list of the sheriffs from the Norman conquest onwards can be found below...

 in 1472, and for his courage at the battle of Hutton Field he was made a knight banneret

Knight banneret

A knight banneret, sometimes known simply as banneret, was a Medieval knight who led a company of troops during time of war under his own banner and were eligible to bear supporters in English heraldry.The military rank of a knight banneret was...

. When his commander, the Duke of Gloucester, became Richard III

Richard III of England

Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

, he rewarded Sir Ralph's adhesion to the Yorkist cause by extensive grants of land. In 1483 he was appointed vice-constable of England and lieutenant of the Tower of London. The date of his death is unknown, but he is traditionally said to have been shot at Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...

, and the yearly ceremony known as the 'Riding of the Black Lad' is regarded as a commemoration of that event. There is a very full rent-roll or custumal of the manor of Ashton in 1422, in which the various names and obligations of the tenants are set forth.

Legacy

Ralph Ashton is mentioned in a passage which Dr. Hibbert-Ware has explained with much ingenuity, though not with absolute certainty. According to this, corn marigold (Chrysanthemun segetum) grew so extensively in the low wet land about Ashton as to be inimical to the crops, and the lord of the manor had an annual inspection and levied fines on those tenants on whose lands it was seen. This power, delegated to Ralph Ashton and his brother Robert, is said to have been made the pretext of such tyrannical exactions that on one of these visitations the tenants rose in desperation and the 'Black Knight' was slain. Others hold that it was whilst exercising in the northern parts his despotic powers as vice-constable that he excited the terror expressed in the legendary rhyme:—
Sweet Jesu, for thy mercy's sake
And for thy bitter passion,
Save us from the axe of the Tower,
And from Sir Ralph of Ashton.
The effigy of the Black Knight is still paraded through the town of Ashton on Easter Monday.