[1] He was a performer on the violoncello, and also for some time carried on the Covent Garden oratorios with his brother, General Charles Ashley, a violinist.
According to the official book commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Worshipful Company of Musicians (published in 1904/5), he was one of the founders of the Glee Club in 1793 and an original member of the Philharmonic Society of London.
In 1791 and from 1794 to 1801, he was named by the Governors to play for the clergy of St. Paul's Cathedral, at the society's annual May benefits concert.
After his father's death in 1805, he and his brother Christopher continued the oratorios, and by 1817 he was a violoncellist in a band at the King's Theatre.
The payments made to him for medical assistance from 1835, were recorded in The Minute Books of the Royal Society of Musicians.