ashbee was articled as an architect to alfred maberley, the diocesan surveyor for gloucester (the place of his birth) and became his assistant in 1872. in 1874 he joined the engineering firm of edward wilson & co working on the construction of liverpool street station and, while with the firm, designed most of the new great eastern railway stations built in that period, working with john wilson as engineer. in 1882 he was promoted to head of the architects' department. in 1883 wilson resigned from the firm to join the ger as chief engineer and ashbee followed him. as the head of the architectural department of the ger from 1883, a position he held until 1916. his major early work after appointment was the elaborate norwich thorpe station, built in 1884–6 in a "free renaissance" style. he later worked with john wilson as the architect for the 1894 expansion of liverpool street station, built in neo tudor style.