ASHLEY, SIR WILLIAM JAMES English economist, was born in London on Feb. 25 186o, and educated at St. Olave's grammar school and Balliol College, Oxford. He was successively professor of political economy and constitutional history in Toronto University (1888), professor of economic history at Harvard University (1892), professor of commerce and finance in Birmingham University (19o1) and dean of the faculty of commerce there (190 2) . Prof. Ashley made most im portant contributions to the history of English industry and the economic development of England in general in his Early History of the English Woollen Industry (1887) and his Introduction to English Economic History and Theory in two parts (Part i. "The Middle Ages," 1888; Part ii. "The End of the Middle Ages," 1893). This Introduction is the standard work on the subject and has been translated into German, French and Japanese. He was foremost among the economists who supported Joseph Chamberlain in his campaign for protection for British industry. His Tariff Problem (1903) was republished in a new and enlarged edition in 1920. In addition to his professional and literary work Sir William Ashley sat on many important public committees and commissions of inquiry—on coal prices (1915) , food prices (1917), cost of living (1918), agriculture (1919-23), tariffs (1923), industry and trade (1924). He also did important work on wages and prices, and was joint author of the Report of the Unionist social reform committee on industrial unrest (1914) .