Charles Herbert Ashworth was born in Liverpool, England on 18 May 1862 and was articled to Holme & Nichol in 1879, and to Francis Usher Holme and George Holme (1822?-1915) in Liverpool from 1882 to 1884. He then worked as an assistant to Thomas Newenham Deane (1828-1899) and Thomas Manley Deane (1851-1933). From 1885 to 1890 he was clerk of works. He subsequently practised as an architect in Dublin and in 1890 he was appointed Architect to the Dublin Artisans' Dwellings Co. In 1925 Ashworth formed a short-lived partnership with his assistant James Bramwell Smith (1884?-1961?) as Ashworth & Smith. Following the death of Ashworth a few months later, Smith carried on the practice with the title unchanged until his own death in 1961 [1962 or 1966 - sources differ].
Ashworth was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) in 1891 and a Fellow of Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (FRIAI) in 1906 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1906. He was also elected a member of the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI) in 1896, and Vice-President in 1900-02, and President in 1903-04 of the AAI. He died in Dublin on 10 January 1926.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001