Born in Lispole, Co. Kerry, Thomas Ashe qualified as a teacher and was principal of Corduff National School, Lusk, Co. Dublin. Ashe was a member of the IRB and the Irish Volunteers, becoming brigade commandant shortly before the Rising. Following the general surrender, he was tried by court-martial and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.
Thomas Ashe died in the Mater Hospital on 25 September 1917 as a result of forcible feeding while on hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison, where he serving a sentence for sedition.