John Rowland Ashton

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John R. Ashton MBE

John R. Ashton (1917 - 2008).jpg

John R. Ashton
Native nameJohn Rowland Ashton
Born 1917
Manchester, England
Died 2008
Gothenburg, Sweden
Academic work
Main interests Writer, lecturer, local historian and educationist

John R. Ashton MBE (1917–2008) was an English writer, lecturer, local historian and educationist active in Sweden. He was the former chairman of the British Factory. He resided in Gothenburg, Sweden, with his Swedish wife Torborg.

Order of the British Empire order of chivalry of British constitutional monarchy

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order.

Gothenburg City in Västergötland and Bohuslän, Sweden

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a population of approximately 570,000 in the city center and about 1 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area.

Contents

Biography

John Rowland Ashton was born in Manchester, England, in 1917.

Manchester City and metropolitan borough in England

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 545,500 as of 2017. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous built-up area, with a population of 3.2 million. It is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council.

In his early life he studied law in London. He was employed by the Gothenburg Education Authority as English language teaching consultant in 1952, a post he held until 1982. During this time he co-authored several English language teaching series, published in Sweden and Norway. He also edited English texts for older students in Sweden, Germany and Holland. In 1957 he pioneered an English language teaching series on local television which he wrote and presented. He has also been active in the social life of the British community in Gothenburg being the vice-chairman of the English school (1960–1979) and a member of the English Church (St. Andrew’s) Council (1974–1998). He was elected a member of the ancient British Factory in 1980 and soon became chairman. He was awarded the MBE in 1979. John Ashton died in Gothenburg in 2008.

Bibliography

English language teaching series

History

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

In 2003 he wrote Lives and Livelihoods in Little London; The Story of the British in Gothenburg (1621–2001). The book tells the fascinating story of why the Scots and English settled in Gothenburg and how a number of Scottish and English merchant families have contributed to the economic and cultural development of the city. Trade across the North Sea, especially in iron-bars and timber, has for nearly three hundred years been of vast importance in the growth of the port of Gothenburg.

North Sea marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean

The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi).

Port of Gothenburg

The municipally-owned Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in the Nordic countries, with over 11,000 ship visits per year from over 140 destinations worldwide. As the only Swedish port with the capacity to cope with the very largest modern, ocean-going container ships, Gothenburg handles nearly 30% of the country's foreign trade, comprising 39 million tonnes of freight per year.

The influence of this trade on the commercial and social life of Gothenburg is reflected in that the city is sometimes called Little London.
The story of the lives and livelihoods of members of the Barclays, David Carnegie, Chalmers, Sir William Chambers, Chapman, James Dickson, John Hall, Gibson and Keiller families – to name but a few – is told against a backdrop of major historical events in Europe. And that the influence of these families was positive and strong is indicated by the naming of streets in the city after them.

David Carnegie, Sr. was a Scottish entrepreneur who founded D. Carnegie & Co. in Gothenburg, Sweden, today known as Carnegie Investment Bank.

William Chalmers (merchant) Swedish merchant

William Chalmers was a Swedish merchant and freemason. He was born in Gothenburg in 1748 as the son of the Scottish merchant, William Chalmers, Sr., and his Swedish wife, Inga Orre. William Chalmers Jr. was the oldest amongst his brothers James, George Andreas and Charles Chalmers. He became a director of the Swedish East India Company and in 1783 he was appointed as their resident representative in Canton. He would stay there and in Macau for ten years before returning home. He died in Gothenburg in 1811 leaving half his fortune to the Sahlgrenska hospital, Gothenburg. After some other donations, the remainder was donated to create a crafting school for poor children, which in 1829 became a college, that today is named the Chalmers University of Technology.

William Chambers (architect) Scottish-Swedish architect

Sir William Chambers was a Scottish-Swedish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, London, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy.

In the 17th century, the supplying of hemp, tar, masts, deals and iron to the English navy was a profitable trade for the Scottish merchants in the port of Gothenburg. In 1731, the Swedish East India Company was founded and owed its initial success to the experience in the China trade of Colin Campbell. Events overseas involved Gothenburg in Jacobite politics and in the Napoleonic Wars. The Scottish and English influence in the city was strong and beneficial in the 19th century.

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British English is the standard dialect of English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom. Variations exist in formal, written English in the United Kingdom. For example, the adjective wee is almost exclusively used in parts of Scotland and Ireland, and occasionally Yorkshire, whereas little is predominant elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described by the term British English. The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken, so a uniform concept of British English is more difficult to apply to the spoken language. According to Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English, British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions in the word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".

University of Gothenburg university in Gothenburg, Sweden

The University of Gothenburg is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg.

Scottish Gaelic Celtic language native to Scotland

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Scots language Germanic language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster in Ireland. It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language which was historically restricted to most of the Highlands, the Hebrides and Galloway after the 16th century. The Scots language developed during the Middle English period as a distinct entity.

Tourism in Scotland

Scotland is a well-developed tourist destination, with tourism generally being responsible for sustaining 200,000 jobs mainly in the service sector, with tourist spending averaging at £4bn per year. In 2013, for example, UK visitors made 18.5 million visits to Scotland, staying 64.5 million nights and spending £3.7bn. In contrast, overseas residents made 1.58 million visits to Scotland, staying 15 million nights and spending £806m. In terms of overseas visitors, those from the United States made up 24% of visits to Scotland, with the United States being the largest source of overseas visitors, and Germany (9%), France (8%), Canada (7%) and Australia (6%), following behind.

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue in the Renaissance-Baroque eras

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Swedish East India Company company

The Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with China and the Far East. The venture was inspired by the success of the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company. This made Gothenburg a European center of trade in eastern products. The main goods were silk, tea, furniture, porcelain, precious stones and other distinctive luxury items. Trade with China saw the arrival of some new customs in Sweden. The Chinese cultural influence increased, and tea, rice, arrack and new root vegetables started appearing in Swedish homes.

Gothenburg Municipality Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden

Gothenburg Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Gothenburg.

The ELTons are international awards given annually by the British Council that recognise and celebrate innovation in the field of English language teaching. They reward educational resources that help English language learners and teachers to achieve their goals using innovative content, methods or media. The ELTons date from 2003 and the 2018 sponsors of the awards are Cambridge English Language Assessment and IELTS. Applications are submitted by the end of November each year and they are judged by an independent panel of ELT experts, using the Delphi Technique. The shortlist is published in March and the winners announced at a ceremony in London in June. The 2018 awards will be held in a new venue, Savoy Place, Institute of Engineering and Technology, London, UK.

Thomas Braidwood (1715–1806) was a Scottish educator, significant in the history of deaf education. He was the founder of Britain's first school for the deaf.

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The history of Gothenburg begins with the foundation of the heavily fortified town in 1621, during the Thirty Years' War, when Sweden was once-again in armed conflict with Denmark–Norway. The location of the new trading port, Sweden's only direct access to the North Sea and Atlantic, was highly strategic: the result of centuries of conflict with the Norwegians just to the north, in Bohuslän, and the Danes, just to the south in Halland.

Sir David Mackenzie Wilson is a British archaeologist, art historian, and museum curator, specialising in Anglo-Saxon art and the Viking Age. From 1977 until 1992 he served as the Director of the British Museum, where he had previously worked, from 1955 to 1964, as an assistant keeper. In his role as director he was implicated in the international controversy concerning looting related to the British Museum, indirectly playing a major role in the growing movement for the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens.

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Sweden–United Kingdom relations Diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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References

Notes