I've been researching the inventors who spent most on patents in NZ between 1860 and 1899 for an economics thesis. The background and fate of Francis Henry Asbuy remains unclear. Between 1880 and 1890 he was in Dunedin, Otago, NZ, where he worked as a heating engineer, and got married to Margaret Sheedy in 1884. His marriage certificate says he was born in Scotland about 1847 and his parents were Henry Asbury and Marie Coralie. However, this matches poorly with census and birth records for the UK. In 1890-1892 he was in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, but after 1892 the only detailed information I can find is the death certificate for his widow in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1935. She had a daughter called Iris or Doris Marguerite, whose surname is unclear. The daughter does not show up on NZ or Australian BDM records, even changing the spelling of Asbury's surname! An F.H. Asbury also shows up as travelling between Melbourne and Europe via Sth Africa in the late 1890s. I'd be interested if anyone knew about Asbury's career and fortunes after 1892, or had any information on his early life. There is evidence of a Frank Henry Asbury in San Francisco in 1875 who reported being born in Scotland, and the NZ Asbury advertised he had worked in the US.
