BORN
1887, Wartling, East Sussex, England
DIED
5th Febraury, 1981
REGIMENT
11th Battalion
MEDALS
Meritorious Service Medal
Fleetwood Ashburnham Curteis
But there is so much more to the story of Fleetwood Ashburnham Curteir; his is a delightful tale of true love triumphing over tradition. As he was the only solider with the surname Curteis to have fought for Australian in World War I, it was easy to find his war service papers.
It turns out that farm labourer Fleetwood was in fact an English nobleman and his name appears in Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage. On his mother’s side, he was the grandson of Sir Anchitel, the 8th Ashburnham Baron of Broomham, a baronetcy which dates back to the mid-1660s. On his father’s side, he was the grandson of Tory Member of Parliament Herbet Mascall Curteis. Both his father, also called Herbet, and his grandfather were well-known cricketers who played for Sussex and the exclusive Marylebone Cricket Club.
He had uncles who were high-ranking officers in both the British Army and the Navy, and one of his relatives became private secretary to then Prince of Wales Edwards, who became King Edward VIII in 1939 only to abdicate less than a year later.
The aristocratic Curteis and Ashburnham families owned large neighbouring estates in Wartlin, and Fleetwood was no doubt destined for a life of wealth and privilege. However, working the Court Lodge Farm on the neighbouring Ashburnham estate was William Allin, who had a daughter, Patience Amelia. She was five years older than Fleetwood and the two fell in love.
The Ashburnham and Curteis families did not approve of the match but Fleetwood married Patience anyway and the couple left England for Western Australia in late 1910.
It is unlikely the AIF knew anything about Fleetwood’s noble background when he enlisted. He was first assigned as a Private to the 11th Battalion and left Australia in early March 1916. By late May he had transferred to the 51st Battalion, which had been formed a couple of months earlier in Egypt.
