Thanks for the documents you have all linked me to. The passport application notes his time in NZ and Australia and South Africa and seems to note somewhat bizarre reasons (involving climate and typhoid) for wanting to travel. The other documents suggest that Asbury was born several years earlier than his 1884 NZ marriage certificate implies. I had picked up the Francis and Frances Asbury family, but thought that the age was not quite right for the inventor I am investigating. It is interesting that he ended up in a soldiers’ home. Asbury's time living with his uncle, who was a metal worker, probably shaped his skills and interest in heating and ventilating products.
