William Asheton Tonge Obituary

William Asheton Tonge, who had been a member of our Society since 1907, died on 29th October, 1936. He was born on 14th July, 1860, the third son of Richard Tonge, and was for many years a merchant in Manchester as head of the firm Lathbury & Co. His interest in antiquarian matters seems to have begun with his own ancestry. The connection of his family, long resident in Worsley, with the ancient family of Tonge of Tonge Hall, in the parish of Prestwich, was a subject of continued interest and research during his life. When Tonge Hall, of which there are accounts in our Transactions, Vol. X, and the Victoria County History, came into the market nearly fifty years ago, he purchased it, made some restorations, and in 1906 offered it as a gift to the town of Middleton, to be used as a museum. The gift was declined and under Mr. Tonge's will the Hall was passed to his nephew, Mr. D. D. R. Fisher. Mr. Tonge was a member of the Councils of the Chetham Society and the Lancashire Parish Register Society. To the latter society he and members of his family were benefactors, paying for the production of several volumes of registers. He was for some years Honourary Treasurer of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, and edited it for two volumes, one of the Chester marriage bonds and the other a volume of the Index of Chester wills. By his will Mr. Tonge left his residence, The Old Rectory, Warburton (which was visited by our society in 1924) to Fettes College, Edinburgh, to be used as a holiday home for the rest and recuperation of masters of the College, with an endowment for maintenance. His will also contained a number of other public legacies. His MS. genealogical collections relating to a large number of Lancashire families, bound in many fine folio volumes, are now in the Chetham Library. E.A.