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Ashwell years he was minister of Holy Trinity Church, Conduit Street, Hanover Square; but in 1865 he returned to his old occupation, accepting the principalship of the Training College, Durham. The fame of his success at Durham led Bishop Durnford, an entire stranger to him, to offer him in 1870 the principalship of the Theological College, Chichester, with a canonry attached, and he also held for a short time the rectory of St. Martin's (1871-5), and that of St. Andrew's (1872-5), in that city. Canon Ashwell was active in literature. In 1864 he became editor of the 'Literary Churchman,' which office he held for twelve years, when he became (1876) editor of the 'Church Quarterly Review,' and a little while before his death he also resumed the editorship of the 'Literary Churchman.' To both these periodicals he was a regular contributor. He was also a contributor to the third series of 'Tracts for the Christian Seasons;' and he wrote occasionally for the 'Quarterly Review' and the 'Monthly Packet.' He was also in great request as a preacher in his own cathedral and elsewhere. He was, moreover, a frequent reader and speaker at church congresses, and an effective conductor of mission services. It is no wonder that his constitution was impaired by this excessive work, and that he succumbed to an attack of congestion of the lungs, which prematurely cut short a most active and useful life on 23 Oct. 1879. A window and a lectern in Chichester Cathedral perpetuate his memory in a spot of which he had been a distinguished ornament.

Canon Ashwell achieved reputation as a writer, a preacher, and a teacher. Some of his periodical essays excited much attention. His articles upon Dr. Farrar's 'Life of Christ' in the second number of the 'Church Quarterly Review,' and upon the 'State of the Church' in the July number of the 'Quarterly Review,' 1874, excited much interest. His article on Samuel Wilberforce in the April number, 1874, of the same Review was the main cause of his being asked to write the bishop's life; and several of his educational articles attracted unusual attention. His longest consecutive work was the first volume of the 'Life of Bishop Wilberforce' (1880).

As a preacher Canon Ashwell was extremely acceptable, especially among the more thoughtful and educated congregations. His little volume of printed sermons, entitled 'God in Nature,' is full of striking and original ideas, expressed tersely and incisively, and evidently with a view to arrest or even force attention.

As a trainer, first of future schoolmasters, and then of future clergymen, Canon Ashwell made his influence deeply felt. His clear, epigrammatic style was the very style to command the attention of young men. He was a very strict disciplinarian, and the kindest of friends and counsellors to all pupils who sought his aid in confidence, as many of them have testified to the present writer. Canon Ashwell was a staunch and very definite English churchman. Besides the writings already mentioned, he published 'The Schoolmaster's Studies' (1860), 'The Argument against Evening Communions' (1875), 'Lectures on the Holy Catholic Church' (1876), and 'Septuagesima Lectures' (1877), all small works.

[Canon Ashwell's writings, passim; obituary notices in the Church Quarterly Review and Literary Churchman; information from the Rev. Prebendary Teulon, Rev. S. J. Bales, Rev. Canon Gregory, Rev. Canon Butler, Rev. Prebendary W. R. W. Stephens, and Miss C. M. Yonge.]  ASHWELL, GEORGE (1612–1695), Anglo-catholic controversialist, born in the parish of St. Martin Ludgate, 8 Nov. 1612, was the son of Robert Ashwell, of Harrow. He was a scholar of Wadham College, Oxford, 1627; graduated B.A. 4 Dec. 1632, M.A. 1635, and became fellow of his college. He was tutor in the family of Thomas Leigh, a nonconformist, but his own sympathies were of another sort. He was the friend of Heylin, who wrote, at his suggestion, on 'Parliament's Power in Laws for Religion,' which was published in 1645. He was made B.D. on 23 June 1646, and became chaplain to Sir Anthony Cope, lord of the manor of Hanwell, Oxfordshire. On the death of Dr. Robert Harris, 1658, he succeeded him in the rectory of Hanwell, where he died on 8 Feb. 1694-5. He published: 1. 'Fides Apostolica, or a Discourse asserting the received authors and authority of the Apostles' Creed. . . with a double appendix, the first touching the Athanasian, the second touching the Nicene Creed,' 1663 (this was attacked by Baxter, in his 'Reformed Pastor,' 1656, for which Baxter expresses regret in his 'Catholick Theologie,' 1675). 2. 'Gestus Eucharisticus, or a Discourse concerning the Gesture at the receiving of the Holy Eucharist,' 1663 (dedicated to his patron. Sir A. Cope). 3. 'De Socino et Socinianismo Dissertatio,' 1680 (suggested by the wide diffusion of English translations of Socinian books, and remarkable for its high tribute to the genius and character of Lelio and Fausto Sozzini). 4. 'De Ecclesia Romana Dissertatio,' 1688 (this and the foregoing were portions of a much larger work in manuscript, 'De Judice