James
Ashcroft’s contribution to sport was not on the field or track but in the
workshop. In 1865 he founded a Liverpool business which for over a century
would produce some of the finest billiard tables in the country. In expanding
his business he also bequeathed a fine city centre building which stands to
this day.
His original
workshops were in Houghton Street but he later moved to 36 Victoria Street and
then in 1884 to a new purpose-built workshop and showroom at 37 Victoria
Street, named Ashcroft Buildings. The
excellence of his products soon established
his reputation and in 1886 at
"The International Exhibition of Navigation - Travelling, Commerce and
Manufacturing" James Ashcroft was awarded a Gold Medal for Excellence of
his Billiard Table. Many pictures of world and other billiard and snooker championships
reveal that Ashcrofts were a table of choice, endorsed by many of the sports
leading lights. Antique Ashcroft tables are still mucg sought after and can
fetch as much as £10,000.
In the 1890s James Ashcroft
purchased a famous oak tree which stood on the banks of the River Dee in the
grounds of Eaton Hall, Chester. The tree, having survived for centuries, was
blown over in a winter gale and Ashcroft’s judicious use of the timber it
provided the legs for 115 billiard tables.
The business stayed in the Ashcroft
family until 1987 when it was acquired by E A Clare and Son, another well-known
Liverpool manufacturer. Arthur Clare, founder of the business, had served his
time as an apprentice in Ashcrofts before being sacked in some disagreement
with the owners.
At the time that James Ashcroft’s
first son, John, was born in 1864, he and his wife Jane were living in Scott
Street, West Derby Road L6 (now demolished). The 1886 Gore’s Directory shows
that James Ashcroft was living at Clifton Villa, 24 Halewood Road, Gateacre
L25. He later lived at Cressington House, Knowsley Road L19. He died at
Cressington House on 6th April 1903 aged 67.
