BORN LINCOLN 1862. WIFE CAROLINE ASHLEY LIVED AT CAMDEN STREET, HULL. BEFORE THE WAR HE WAS EMPLOYED BY HELLYERS SHIPPING LINE, WORKING ON SHORE AND AS A SKIPPER. HE WAS A MEMBER OF ST GEORGE’S LODGE, R.A.O.B. AND THE FREEMASONS IN ABERDEEN.
SERVED AS SHIP’S MATE ON THE GRIMSBY TRAWLER ‘CYGNUS’. A SHIP’S MATE WOULD ASSIST THE MASTER OF THE SHIP IN NAVIGATION AND RESPOND TO EMERGENICIES. HE WAS LOST AT SEA WITH ALL HANDS, ON 12/12/1914, AGED 52. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE TOWERE HILL, NAVAL MEMORIAL, LONDON.
HE LEFT A WIDOW AND FOUR SONS AND FOUR DAUGHTERS. ONE SON, WALTER ASHLEY, WAS ON THE SS ‘HULL’, CAPTURED BY THE GERMANS. ANOTHER SON TOM ASHLEY, SERVED IN THE ROYAL NAVY RESERVE AND SKIPPERED THE TRAWLER, ‘MARGATE’, LOST AT SEA ON 23/4/1917, AGED 31. ANOTHER SON, DAVID ASHLEY, WAS LANDLORD OF THE KING WILLIAM PUB, IN BOND STREET. HE LEFT £172 IN HIS WILL TO HIS WIDOW CAROLINE AT 26 CAMDEN STREET, HULL (PROBATE ADDRESS)
THOMAS ASHLEY, SNR, IS LISTED ON THE ST MATTHEWS CHURCH ROH, BOULEVARD, WITH HIS ELDEST SON, TOM. (HDM 20/08/1917). HIS DEATH AND PHOTOGRAPH WERE REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 8TH JANUARY 1915. *
On December 12th, 1914, the British steel trawler CYGNUS, built in 1896 by Mackie & Thomson & Co. and owned at the time of her loss by Grimsby & North Sea Steam Trawling Co., on voyage from Grimsby to fishing grounds, was sunk by a mine in the North Sea.
CREW LOST ON CYGNUS (GY121),. 9 casualties.
PEOPLE ON BOARD FV CYGNUS123
1. ALLENBY, FRANK (36), Skipper, husband of Elizabeth Beatrice Allenby, of 383, Weelsby St., Grimsby, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
2. ASHLEY (52), Mate, Husband of Caroline Ashley, of 26, Camden St., Hull. Born at Lincoln, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
3. BLEWITT (37), Second Engineer, Husband of Mrs. Blewitt, of 83, Ladysmith Rd., Grimsby. Born at Birmingham, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
4. CHAFER, GEORGE THOMAS (19), Third Hand, Son of Sarah Chafer (nee Page), of 98, Gillett St., Hull, and the late George Thomas Chafer. Born at Grimsby, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
5. DEWHURST, CHARLES (39), Chief Engineer, Son of the late Rueben and Alice Dewhurst; husband of Laura Dewhurst (nee Jenkins), of 35, Cressey St., Grimsby.
6. GALLICHAM (52), Deck Hand, Born in Jersey, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
7. RICHARDSON, REGINALD HEBER (44), Deck Hand, Son of Michael Joseph Richardson and the late Eliza Richardson, husband of Emily May Richardson (nee Thompson), of 6, Ravenspun St., Grimsby. Born at Great Coates, Tower Hill Memorial
8. SCOTERICK , Steward, FV Cygnus, Husband of Mrs. Scoterick, of 16, Station St., Boston, Lincs, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
9. SHAW, JOHN (18), Trimmer, FV Cygnus, Son of Mary Hannah Shaw, of 22, Bedford St., Grimsby, and the late Walter Shaw. Born at Hull, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
