ASHCROFT, Christopher
| Service Number: | 1539 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column |
| Born: | Orbost, Victoria, 27 June 1894 |
| Home Town: | Dalby, Western Downs, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Torquay, Wide Bay, QLD, 25 February 1968, aged 73 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Apple Tree Creek Cemetery, Bundaberg, Queensland |
| Memorials: | Kaimkillenbun War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 6 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1539, 2nd Light Horse Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 1539, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 1539, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Suffolk, Sydney | |
| 11 Mar 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Driver, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, Zatoum | |
| 20 Mar 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Driver, 1539, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, ex Alexandria to Marseilles per HT Magdalena | |
| 31 Mar 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Driver, 1539, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, ex Liverpool to Brisbane per HT Khyber |
Vietnam War Service
| 16 Jul 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Driver, 1539, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
On 6 August 1915, Christopher (Chris) Ashcroft Jnr (b1894 in Orbost, Victoria) - a Farmer at Ringing Plain nr Dalby QLD - enlisted in the AIF. Chris (Private; Service No:1539) served with 12th Reinforcements 2nd Light Horse Regiment in Egypt and was transferred to 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column and promoted to Driver. From Alexandria Chris served in France. He was hospitalised with mumps, an injury to his left eye (contusion) and influenza and Discharged in July 1919.
Chris was the fifth of twelve children of Christopher Ashcroft Snr (b1857 in Liverpool, England) and Mary Ellen Wilson (b1869 in Lucknow, Victoria). Christopher was an Able Seaman on board the Derbyshire when he Deserted in 1879 in Victoria and made his way to Bairnsdale where he was a Selector. Mary was a Grazier's daughter when she and Charles eloped in 1886 and married in Melbourne, Victoria. Following their marriage, the couple were honeymooning in Warnambool when Charles was arrested for abduction on a warrant issued by Mary's parents - the charges were dropped. Christopher and Mary settled in Bairnsdale, Victoria where Charles was a Farmer. In February 1900 Charles and Mary were on a camping holiday at Cape Couran with their eight children when their tent caught fire, collapsed on them and three of the children were killed. The next year Charles and Mary moved their surviving children to Moola nr Dalby QLD. In 1927 Christopher and Mary moved to Toowoomba QLD.
Chris returned to Moola following WWI and in 1922 in Dalby QLD married Myrtle May Gladys Snell (b1894 in Peak Hill, NSW). Myrtle moved to Dalby with her family in 1913, and was a Teacher at Yamsion in Kailkillenbun nr Moola between 1914 and her marriage. Chris and Myrtle settled at Alligator Creek, Mirani QLD where Chris was a Farmer, and then at Hill View in Gundiah. By 1949 they had settled in Pialba QLD where Chris was a Bee Keeper/Farmer, retiring to Torquay in Wide Bay QLD in the late 1950's. Chris died in 1968 and Myrtle in 1977.
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