He attended Guy's Hospital in Southwark, London, where he met John Sebastian Helmcken, a future key player in the joining of British Columbia to the Canadian Confederation.
On approximately July 31, 1863, Ash's wife Dorothy Agar gave birth to a daughter, Annie Freer, in the Esquimalt home of John Sebastian Helmcken.
[2] In 1865 Ash was elected as a junior member for the Esquimalt District in the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island.
It is believed that the reason he gained this seat was because of his connections with John Sebastian Helmcken and the Hudson's Bay Company (whose employees made up the majority of the constituency's population).
After British Columbia entered the Canadian Confederation in 1871, Ash was elected to the provincial legislative representing the riding of Comox the very next year, on December 23, 1872.