Ernest Edward Austen was born in 1867 in Dalston, Middlesex (now Greater London), the eldest of the five children of Ambrose Austen (1838-1924) and Eliza Burnet Austen née Smith (1839-1916). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1867 in the Hackney Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London).
On 16 July 1869 he was baptised at St Philip's Church, Dalston, where his date of birth was confirmed in the baptismal register that also shows that his family was living at Montague Road West, Dalston and that his father was a banker's clerk.
His four siblings were: Frank Austen (1870-1944); Sydney Austen (1873-1958); Alfred Burnet Austen (1875-1887) and Arthur Stuart Austen (1872-1957).
In the 1871 census he is shown as aged 3 years and residing in Clifton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, with his parents, his brother - Frank Austen, together with a female domestic servant. His father was described as a cashier at a bank.
On the night of the 1881 census he was listed as aged 13 years and a scholar, living at 19 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, with his mother, who was shown as a bank cashier's wife and his four siblings, together with a female general domestic servant. His father was shown as a bank cashier staying overnight at 17 Church Street, Rugby, in the absence of the usual night watchman at the bank.
When the 1891 census was undertaken he was described as aged 23 years and an assistant at the British Museum, boarding at the home of sister and brother Jane and Charles Hopwood at 73 Wendover Road, Willesden, Middlesex (now Greater London).
On 1 January 1900 he enlisted in the City of London Imperial Volunteers, service number 9, where he achieved the rank of Lance-Sergeant, and saw service in the Second Boer War in South Africa. The angloboerwar.com website shows that he was presented with the Willesden Tribute Medal on 8 November 1900 at Kensal Rise Board School. He would also have been awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal.
The 1901 census shows him as aged 33 years and an assistant at the British Museum, boarding at the home of Jane Hopwood at 104 Minet Avenue, Willesden.
He married Cecile Mary Noël Buchanan (1877-1932) in c.1906 and electoral registers from 1907 to 1913 list him at 21 Glyn Mansions, Barons Court, West Kensington, London.
When he completed his 1911 census return form he described himself as aged 43 years and an assistant, British Museum, living in a 6 roomed property at 21 Glyn Mansions, Addison Bridge, West Kensington, London, with his wife, to whom he had been married for 5 years and who was aged 33 years, together with a female domestic servant.
He and his wife had two daughters: Alison Mary Austen (1911-2005) and Leslie Rosamund Austen (1914-1987).
During World War One he initially served as a Captain in the 28th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Artists' Rifles) and entered France on 29 October 1914. On 2 April 1916 he was transferred as a Major into the Royal Army Medical Corps and was specially employed as an entomologist in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.
Electoral registers from 1922 to 1937 show him and his family listed at 31 Maxwell Road, Northwood, Middlesex (now Greater London). Probate records show that his wife died on 23 February 1932 at home, Evaerie, 31 Maxwell Road, Northwood and that when probate was granted her effects totalled £1,188-6s-9d.
He died, aged 70 years, on 16 January 1938 and his death was registered in the 1st quarter of 1938 in the Islington Registration District, London.
His Wikipedia page gives some information about this man and Alamy have a photo captioned "Ernest Edward Austen(1867-1938), British entomologist. Austen is best known for his collection of insects from Sierra Leone and the Amazon and for the book 'Illustrations of British Blood-Sucking Flies' (1906)."
He is shown as 'E.E.AUSTEN' on the Willesden Boer War memorial at Billy Frogg's Bar, 1120 Howard Street, 68102, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He is also commemorated in the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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