ASHCROFT, David
| Service Number: | 1536 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Aburst, Victoria, Australia, 30 July 1895 |
| Home Town: | Kaimkillenbun, Western Downs, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Contractor |
| Died: | Point Vernon, Queensland, Australia, 3 March 1986, aged 90 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Polson Cemetery, Qld |
| Memorials: | Kaimkillenbun War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Trooper, 1536, 2nd Light Horse Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 1536, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Suffolk, Sydney | |
| 30 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 1536, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Mar 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Driver, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, Zeitoun | |
| 20 Mar 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Driver, 1536, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, ex Alexandria to Marseilles per Magdalena | |
| 27 Apr 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Driver, 1536, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, per HT Runic | |
| 4 Aug 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Driver, 1536, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column | |
| 9 Aug 1919: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1536, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, Brisbane, Qld. |
Help us honour David Ashcroft's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Christopher ASHCROFT
Of Kaimkellenbun, Qld.
Biography contributed by Chris Buckley
Trooper David Ashcroft (Service No:1536) enlisted in the AIF in Toowoomba QLD with his older brother Christopher (Service No:1539) and both served in Egypt and France with 2nd Light Horse Regiment and 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column. In August 1917, Margaret Gourley of Moola QLD wrote to the Army requesting information as to why David had not been receiving parcels and letter '... he has not had any letters since Xmas, and he is about full up of things, thinking we are slackers, forgotten all about him' (National Archives Australia). David was a Driver attached to 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column when he was Discharged in August 1919.
Born in Orbust Victoria in 1894, David was the sixth of twelve children of Christopher Ashcroft (b1858 in Lancashire, England) and Mary Ellen Wilson (b1869 in Lucknow, Victoria). Charles had arrived in Victoria in 1879 as an Able Seaman (Deserter from the Derbyshire) and settled in Bairnsdale, Victoria. He was a Selector in 1886 when he and Mary (the daughter of a Grazier) eloped and married in Melbourne - Mary's parents issued a warrant for Charles' arrest for abduction and he and Mary were honeymooning in Warnambool when the warrant was served (then dropped). The couple settled in Orbost, Victoria where Charles was a Farmer. In 1900 they were on a camping holiday at Camp Conron with their eight children when their tent caught fire and collapsed on the family - three children were killed. Next year Charles and Mary moved their surviving children to Moola nr Dalby on the Darling Downs in QLD. Charles was a Farmer at Ringing Plain until he and Mary moved to Toowoomba QLD in 1927.
David was working as a Contractor in Kaimkillenbun nr Dalby QLD when he enlisted, and following his Discharge in 1919 he settled at Beerburrum, QLD where he was a Farmer. In 1920 in Brisbane, QLD David married Roberta Williams (b1900 in Innisfail, QLD) and the couple lived in Beerbuurum until 1925 when they moved to Kincombi, Wondai and David worked at the Manumbar Timber Coy as a Labourer. In 1931 he was working in Toowoomba, QLD as a Labourer and by 1936 the family was in Dalby where David was a Farmer at Ranges Bridge. In the early 1940s David and Roberta moved to Chinchilla QLD, where David was a Farmer. They retired to Torquay (where brother Christopher was living) in the early 1960s. David died in 1986 and Roberta in 1989.
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