| Miles Ashworth | |
| Baptised: | 29 January 1792 Rochdale, Lancashire, England |
| Death Place: | Rochdale, Lancashire, England |
| Children: | 7, including Samuel Ashworth |
Miles Ashworth (bapt. 29 January 1792 – 13 April 1868) was an English co-operator, weaver, chartist, and marine. In 1844 he was a founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and served as the society's first president.[1] [2] He was father to fellow Rochdale Pioneer Samuel Ashworth.[3]
Ashworth was born to William and Ann Ashworth and was baptised on the 29 January 1792 in Rochdale, Lancashire. He served as a marine during the Napoleonic Wars on HMS Bellerophon where he guarded Napoleon following his capture by the British in 1815. After leaving the navy he became a weaver and in 1823 married Jane Howarth with whom he went on to have seven children.
In 1844 he was a founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and was elected the society's first president. In 1845 he became a trustee of the co-op, with Charles Howarth succeeding him as president.
In 1848 he moved to Minster Lovell to join his son Samuel to work as a farmer as part of the Chartist Land Plan but after six months Samuel sold the plot and they returned to Rochdale.[4]
Ashworth died in Rochdale on the 13 April 1868 at the age of 76.