Captain the Honourable Frederick Ashton of Wongerford Manor, Sussex, was better known as Freddie Ashton, or simply Freddie, is a recurrent character in the Gimlet books.
Gimlet considered Freddie as one of the "star turns" in the British intelligence service during the Second World War. He was described as having done wonderful work getting people out of trouble while serving undercover in German-occupied France. In King of the Commandos, Freddie masqueraded as an innkeeper of the "Cheval Noir" in northern France. He looked the part. When first encountering him, Cub really thought he was French. He was "typical of the district--untidy, unshaven, dirty shirt open at the throat, legs in faded blue, well-patched trousers. His feet were thrust into an old pair of carpet-slippers." However he proved to be as English as Gimlet as the two went about casually making arrangements for a plane to be sent from England to collect them. To Cub, the two "might have been in a regimental dining-room, in England, for all the concern they showed." Despite the danger they were in, Freddie and Gimlet showed more interest in discussing one of Gimlet's mares and whether Freddie could borrow her when he returned to England on leave. The French officers Gimlet had rescued shrugged their shoulders in disbelief and one even thought they were "insane".
Freddie shows up again in Gimlet Mops Up and here his full name and background is given for the first time. He is one of several British military and intelligence officers who received a death threat from a gang of Werewolves based in England. Gimlet attempted to warn him and request him to keep a low profile but Freddie regarded the threat as a joke and insisted on carrying on with a fox hunt. During the event, Freddie got separated from most of the other participants and was gassed by some Werewolf agents but his abduction was prevented by the timely intervention of Gimlet and Cub who had joined the hunt in order to protect him. Freddie recovered from his injuries and promised Gimlet he would keep a low profile by moving under cover of darkness to live with his brother in Chelsea, but only on the understanding that he could get "a crack at the wolves."
Freddie receives a mention in Gimlet's Oriental Quest. Here he has become Lord Rinborne. Gimlet borrows his yacht Sally to sail to Thailand.
Freddie also appears in King et les otages, the second part of a two part adaptation of the story into comic format published in French by Aredit. The characterisation here is much the same as in the original book but his background is embellished a little. Gimlet introduces Freddie as a friend from the time they were in war college together and that, for the purposes of his current mission, Freddie was posing as a Swiss innkeeper. He appears again in King et les loups-garous, the comic adaptation of Gimlet Mops Up. Here his characterisation is much as in the original.