BORN HULL 01/07/1885. ELDEST SON OF THOMAS & CAROLINE ASHLEY, OF 56, CAMDEN STREET, HULL. SON OF A SEAMAN. HE HAD THREE BROTHERS AND FOUR SISTERS. WAS MEMBER OF THE BON ACCORD FREEMASONS IN ABERDEEN. HIS WIFE RUTH ASHLEY, LIVED AT 26, CAMDEN STREET, BOULEVARD, HULL.
HE WAS SKIPPER OF THE STEAM TRAWLER ‘MARGATE’ AND DIED AT SEA ON 24/04/1917, AGED 31. HE LEFT £188 IN HIS WILL TO HIS WIDOW, RUTH AND CHILD. HE IS LISTED ON ST MATTHEWS CHURCH, BOULEVARD ROH. WITH HIS FATHER, THOMAS ASHLEY (SENIOR), LOST AT SEA, ON THE STEAMSHIP “CYGNUS”, 13/12/1914.
A BROTHER WAS INTERNED IN GERMANY AT THE START OF THE WAR. ANOTHER BROTHER, DAVID ASHLEY WAS LISENCEE OF THE KING WILLIAM HOTEL, BOND STREET, HULL
Margate FV (GY218) was a British Steam Trawler of 161 tons registered at Grimsby. She was built in 1897 by Mackie & Thomson Govan, Yard No 133 for Hagerup & Doughty, Grimsby, In 1906 she was purchased by Consolidated Steam Fishing & Ice Co. On the 24th April 1917 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off Spurn Head. UC-50 sunk the MARGATE off Spurn Point by gunfire under the command of Rudolf Seuffer. 13 crew drowned. CREW LOST –
1. ASHLEY, THOMAS , Skipper, HMT Margate, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
2. CARD, GEORGE HENRY , Deck Hand (no. 7625DA), Chatham Naval Memorial
3. DRAPER, CHARLES JAMES , Engineman (no. 3630ES), Plymouth Naval Memorial
4. FERRIER, JOHN ROBERT , Deck Hand (no. 2078DA), Chatham Naval Memorial
5. FORD, ARTHUR HERBERT (35), Leading Seaman (no. 2550C), Husband of Mable Constance Ford, of 2, Brook Cottage, Sholing Lane, Pear Tree Green, Itchen, Southampton, Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial
6. HARRIS, EDWARD WILLIAM (51), Engineman (no. 2794ES), Husband of Margaret Harris, of 67, Hilda St., Grimsby, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
7. HIGGINBOTTOM, LAWRENCE (26), Deck Hand (no. 9513DA), Son of James and Elizabeth Higginbottom, of 96, Redbourne St., Hessle Rd., Hull, Chatham Naval Memorial
8. HORN, WILLIAM CHARLES (31), Deck Hand (no. 54DX), Son of Robert and Harriet Horn, of Gorleston-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth; husband of Annie Edith Gimaine (formerly Horn), of 1, Trinity Square, New Clee, Great Grimsby, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
9. JACKSON, ALLEN HENRY (19), Deck Hand (no. 1548TS), Nephew of Emma Bogg, of 41, Willingham St., Grimsby, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
10. JAMES, WILLIAM GEORGE , Second Hand (no. 2361DA), Chatham Naval Memorial
11. PLUMTREE, JOHN HENRY (38), Deck Hand (no. 7483DA), Son of Elizabeth Plumtree; husband of Edith Mary Holmes (formerly Plumtree), of 1, Cressey St., Grimsby, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
12. RIDGWAY, WILLIAM , Deck Hand (no. 7547DA), Chatham Naval Memorial
13. ROBINSON, HERBERT (19), Trimmer (no. 1816TS), Son of Edwin and Sarah Robinson, of 63, Victoria Street, Fleetwood, Lancs, Memorial: Plymouth Naval Memorial
