Thomas Ashton (bap. 1715, d. 1775) attended Eton College from 1730 where he developed a lifelong friendship with Horace Walpole. In 1734 he came up to King's as a scholar, and was made a Fellow in 1737. He was ordained in 1741 and had a successful career as a clergyman, thanks in some degree to the interventions of Walpole. He was made a Fellow of Eton in 1745. He took his DD in 1759, and was preacher to the House of Commons in 1761 and preacher of Lincoln's Inn from 1762 to 1764. This print of an engraving by James McArdell is from a portrait by Gainsborough.