Stanley Arthur Ashby (1894 - 1942)

Biography

Stanley was born in 1894 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, the son of Ernest Albert Ashby, a farmer and his wife Ellen Ann, nee Green.

By 1916 he was living in Queensland, Australia. He enlisted in the AIF on 07 Jul 1916 at Brisbane, QLD. He advised he had previously been rejected for service due to hydrcele (swollen testicles). He was a gardener. He was accepted as a Private (No 6466) and allocated to the 21st Reinforcements to the 9th Bn. He was 5 ft 5 in tall, with dark complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

He embarked at Brisbane on the "Boonah" on 21 Oct 1916, disembarking at Plymouth, England on 10 Jan 1917. He proceeded to France on 14 May 1917, joining the 9th Bn on 18 May 1917.

He was wounded in action (left knee) on 20 Sep 1917 and taken to hospital in England. He was returned to Australia on the "Dunvegan Castle" on 13 Mar 1918. He was discharged in Brisbane on 29 Jun 1918.

He lived in the Territory of New Guinea from 1921.

On 10 Sep 1927 he married Emily Myra Jewson in East Malvern, Victoria.^[1] They had 3 children:- Erice Helen (Pizer); Norman Stanley; and Joan Laurel.

In 1936, he auctioned a tobacco farm that he owned in Cairns, QLD^[2]

He owned Kaman Plantation and was the manager of the Maramakas Plantation near Kavieng, New Ireland in the Territory of New Guinea in 1942. When the Japanese invaded, he was captured on 11 May 1942 at Kavieng and interned as a civilian prisoner at Rabaul on New Britain.

He died on board the "Montevideo Maru" when it was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of the Philippines on 01 Jul 1942 en route from Rabaul to Hainan, where he was destined for forced labour.

Sources

1. ↑ Wedding report - MR. S. ASHBY TO MISS MYRA JEWSON. (1927, November 18). The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889 - 1930), p. 8. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165181146
2. ↑ Advertising (1936, June 27). Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41741179

• Birth - UK GRO BDM Birth index - ASHBY, STANLEY ARTHUR; GREEN; GRO Reference: 1894 D Quarter in TONBRIDGE Volume 02A Page 663

• WW1 AIF Service record - National Archives of Australia - Ashby Stanley Arthur : SERN 6466 : POB Tunbridge Wells England : POE Brisbane QLD : NOK M Ashby Ellen - http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=3036788

• Marriage - Victoria BDM Marriage index - Event: marriages; Registration number: 7442 / 1927; Family name: ASHBY; Given name(s): Stan Arth; Personal detail Spouse's family name: JEWSON; Spouse's given name(s): Emily Myra

• Death Form - National Archives of Australia - Defence - General - Information of deaths for persons lost on the MONTEVIDEO MARU - https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=102239&S=9

• Death Notice (On Active Service) - Family Notices (1945, November 10). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 20. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12152318

• Probate Notice - IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE TERRITORY OF PAPUA - NEW GUINEA. PROBATE JURISDICTION. (1948, March 3). Territory of Papua-New Guinea Government Gazette (1945 - 1949), p. 52. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article249061138

• Red Cross inquiry card - Australian Red Cross Society, National Office (2017-06-25). Ashby, Stanley Arthur, [No Service Number]. - https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/226592517

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission - https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/3173216/stanley-arthur-ashby/

• People of the Plaque - Roll of Honour - http://www.jje.info/lostlives/exhib/potp/rollofhonour.html

• A Daughter's Reflections - http://www.jje.info/lostlives/people/ashbys.html