Person:Sir Thomas "the Alchemist" Assheton (1)

Thomas de Ashton (alchemist) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Ashton_(alchemist) Sir Thomas de Ashton or Assheton (fl. 1446), 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. From roughly this date, differences appear in the coat of arms, motto and spelling of the two families, indicating that Sir Thomas may have distanced himself from his unpopular half-brother.

A page from Ramon Llull's Alchemic Treatise, printed in the early 16th Century [edit]Alchemy

Permission was granted by Henry VI to Sir Thomas to transmute the precious metals, and on 7 April 1446 a special order was issued[1], encouraging two Lancashire knights, Ashton and Sir Edmund de Trafford, to pursue their experiments in alchemy, and forbidding any subject of the king to molest them. [edit]Descendants

Sir Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Byron, by whom he had eleven children. The eldest son, John, was knighted before the battle of Northampton, 10 July 1460, was MP for Lancashire in 1472 and died in 1508. [edit]References

^ Rot. Pat. 2, No. 14

"Ashton, Thomas de (fl.1446)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

1.   The Peerage Person 22787.

   http://thepeerage.com/p22787.htm#i227863

2.   Wikipedia Thomas de Ashton (alchemist).

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Ashton_(alchemist)

3.   The PEDIGREE of Thomas `the Alchemist' ASHETON.

   http://fabpedigree.com/s012/f735599.htm