Selected Biographies

Ashby, Albert George – Born: Boxted, Suffolk on 16.11.1887.[1]  Parents: Charles Ashby (Licensed Victualler) and Susan [née Medcalf].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest Charles Ashby [b1872].  Home: 41 Bathurst Mews, Paddington, London (1891), 6 Honey Hill, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1901), 15 New Penkridge Road, Cannock, Staffordshire (1911), Perseverance Hotel, Station Road, Long Melford [1916], Station Road, Long Melford (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: Brewing Operative (1911 to 1939).  Married: Kate Winnett in 1912.  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in August 1916 Mrs Ashby, licence holder of the Perseverance Hotel applied for Albert’s exemption, which was refused.[2]  Conscription should have followed shortly after; however, no definitive military record has been found.  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1968.

Ashby, Ernest Charles William – Born: West Malling, Kent on 4.10.1872.[3] Parents: Charles Ashby (Licensed Victualler) and Susan [née Medcalf]. Family Connections: Brother to Albert George Ashby [b1887] and brother-in-law of Edward Walter Jonas [b1875].  Home: Larkhouse Cottage, Hempstead, Essex (1881), Perseverance Hotel, Station Road, Long Melford (1891 to 1939). Occupation: Saddler’s Apprentice (1891), Licensed Victualler (1901), Brewer and Licensed Victualler (1911), Farmer of Kings Farm (1921), Licensed Victualler (1939). Married: Mary Ann Flower Jonas in 1902. Service Record: Ernest was a member of the Long Melford Volunteer Training Corps in 1915.[4] Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1969.

Related Biography

Jonas, Edwin Walter – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 4.10.1875.[5] Parents: William Kemble Jonas S^nr (Miller and Farmer) and Eliza Catherine [née Chaplin] (Straw Bonnet Maker).  Family Connections: Uncle of Arthur Kemble Jonas [b1894] and brother-in-law of Ernest Charles Ashby [b1872].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1881 to 1901), living with Ernest Ashby [father-in-law] at The Perseverance Inn, Station Road, Long Melford [1939], Dove Villa, Great Cornard, Suffolk [1952].  Occupation: Assistant Grocer (1891), Journeyman Grocer and Roundsman (1901), Grocer’s Assistant to Thomas Spicer of Hall Street [1916], Grocer’s Traveller Assistant [1939].  Married: Charlotte Susan Ashby in 1917.  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in March 1916, his employer Thomas Spicer the village grocer, made an application for Jonas’s exemption.  Spicer argued that as three of his men had already enlisted, he had ‘only this man and boys left’ and Jonas was now indispensable.  Exemption was granted for two months.  Spicer was back before the panel in May asking for conditional exemption as his man was now 40 years and 7 months [author’s note: this was near the upper age limit for conscription at the time].  He was granted a conditional exemption, however by February 1917 the Tribunal, following an appeal by the military representative, had overturned Edwin’s exemption, the panel making the stipulation that he was not to be called up for a month.[6]  When Edwin married in the following July his occupation is given as a ‘Soldier in the Army Ordnance Corps’,[7] however no other details are known.  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk on 6.1.1952.[8]

Notes – [1] 1939 Register for Long Melford. [2] For the Tribunal’s ruling see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 16.8.1916. [3] 1939 Register for Long Melford. [4] For Training Corps article see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 10.3.1915. [5] Baptism Register 7.5.1876, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [6] For the Tribunal’s rulings see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 15.3.1916, 17.5.1916 and 28.2.1917. [7] Marriage Register 4.7.1917, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [8] National Probate Calendar.