Edwin Ainsbury SEARE
Year of Birth: (c1879 WWI records) (1891 WWII records)
Place of Birth: Kent, England
Date of Enlistment: 10 February 1942, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Australian Defence Force: Australian Citizens Military Force
Rank: Private
Unit(s): 17 Battalion Australian Volunteer Defence Corps
Service Number: Q116284
Died: 20 August 1942
Age: 51 or 63 years
Buried: Cairns War Cemetery – Plot A – Row A – Grave 3
Edwin Ainsbury (Aubrey) Seare was born to Alfred Edwin and Mary Ann (Clarke) Seare c1879 Kent, England. He was one of eleven children, Alfred, Mary, then Edwin, Annie, Ada, Herbert, Amy, Bernard, Albert, Annie and Rose.
A shipping entry was found on Ancestry with the surname “Searse” for Alf, 29, Mary, 32 and children Ann, aged 1, Ada aged 2, Ed age 5 and Alf age 6 on board the “Duke of Buccleach”, arriving in Rockhampton 20 June 1884. Ada died as sea and her death entry in the Queensland Index has the surname of Seare.
Edwin married Sarah Riddle in St John’s Church of England, Cairns on 14 October 1908. They had three children, Alfred, Sarah and Eveline.
The Defence and War Service Records from National Archives of Australia have the record of a WWI Soldier, Edwin Ausbury Seare No 5315 who was born in 1879 in Kent, England, amalgamated with Edwin Ainsbury Sear Q116284. A document says the AIF assume the two men are identical. This makes his age as 63.
On his enlistment in WWI his age is 38 years 5 months, height is 5 feet 6 inches with fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair.
On the 1937 Electoral Roll of Kennedy, Cairns records, the entry reads: Seare, Edwin Ainsbury, Barron Beach, near Stratford, labourer and Seare, Sarah, Barron Beach, near Stratford, home duties.
At the time of his death, he was a member of the V.D.C Guard on the Cairns Aerodrome. Cause of death on one record states it was illness.
Edwin Ainsbury Seare’s name is on Cairns Roll of Honour board and also located at panel 96 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial.
Online Resources
NAA: B884,(SEARE Edwin Ainsbury) National Archives of Australia
Department Veterans’ Affairs Nominal Rolls
National Library of Australia: Trove Digitised Newspapers
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
Ancestry.com – Queensland, Australia, Passenger Lists, 1848-1912
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