{"id":4351,"date":"2017-06-13T16:10:07","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T16:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casbonjourney.wordpress.com\/?p=4351"},"modified":"2020-05-08T08:38:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T14:38:05","slug":"rags-to-riches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/rags-to-riches\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRags\u201d to Riches"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article appeared in the October 19, 1951 edition of The (Melbourne, Australia) Argus<\/em>.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

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(Click on image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMr. W. A. Casben\u201d is Wilfred Arthur Ackerman Casben, eldest son of Arthur Casben (1886\u20131961). We were briefly introduced to Wilfred in \u201cAustralia bound,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0an earlier post describing Arthur\u2019s origins in England and his emigration to Australia. I\u2019ve had little to say about this branch of the family, as there is relatively little information available online (and I don\u2019t have any plans to make the trek \u201cdown under\u201d anytime soon!), but I will continue to post as information becomes available to me. Wilfred is my fourth cousin, twice removed, based on our common ancestor, Thomas Casbon (1743\u20131799).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I know about Wilfred Arthur.<\/p>\n

He was born in England March 2, 1911 and baptized at Christ Church, Mitcham, Surrey on June 4th of that year.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Detail from Christ Church, Mitcham, Surrey baptismal register (Click on image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He was only 3 years old when he boarded the steam ship Themistocles<\/em>\u00a0in London, April, 1914, with his mother Leonora and 1-year old brother Noel, bound for Australia.[3]<\/a> Wilfred\u2019s father Arthur had preceded them six months earlier, working as a crew member aboard the ship\u00a0Miltiades<\/em>.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1935, Wilfred was listed on electoral rolls, living in Bankstown North (a suburb of Sydney), and employed as a shop assistant.[5]<\/a> \u00a0In 1939, about the time he decided to start his own sportswear company, he became engaged to Florence Still.[6]<\/a> They were married a year later.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

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The engagement announcement of Miss Florence (\u201cPhipp\u201d) Still
(Click on image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Florence and Wilfred went by the nicknames \u201cPhipp\u201d and \u201cCas.\u201d They had at least four children that I know of (names withheld out of respect for privacy), and have living grandchildren today. I have not located records of Wilfred\u2019s or Florence\u2019s deaths; however, they would be well over 100 years old if still living.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have much more information about Wilfred or the company that he founded. It’s clear that he had a vision, and was able to turn it into a highly successful venture. It must have taken a good deal of courage and a lot of hard work to make it happen.<\/p>\n

Based on what\u2019s available on Google, the clothing company\u2019s heyday was from the late 1940s through at least the 1960s (see \u201cFriday Fun: 1968 Casben Shorts Ad\u201d<\/a>). Here is another colorful advertisement, from 1954.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

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(Click on image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have not made contact with any of the Australia Casbens. However, this blog gets occasional visits from Australia, so I suspect someone in the family is reading it. I welcome comments, either through the comments section below this post, or through the Contacts link.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201c\u2019Rags\u2019 to Riches,\u201d The (Melbourne, Australia) Argus<\/em>, 19 Oct 1951, p. 3, col. 1; image copy, Trove<\/em> (http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article23086750<\/a> : accessed 5 October 2016).
\n[2]<\/a> \u201cSurrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912,\u201d Christ Church Mitcham, Southwark diocese, Wilfred Arthur Ackerman Casben, b. 2 Mar 1911, baptized 4 Jun 1911; database with images, Ancestry Library Edition<\/em> (accessed through participating libraries : accessed 17 February 2017); citing parish registers, Surrey History Centre, Woking.
\n[3]<\/a> “Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960,” images and transcriptions, findmypast<\/em> (http:\/\/search.findmypast.com\/record?id=tna%2fbt27%2f0846000031%2f00370<\/a> : accessed 6 October 2016), entry for Mrs Lenora Casben (age 26,) departing London, 2 Apr 1914 for Brisbane aboard Themistocles<\/em>.
\n[4]<\/a> “New South Wales unassisted passenger lists”, images and transcriptions, findmypast<\/em> (http:\/\/search.findmypast.com\/record?id=anz%2fnsw%2fpass%2funasst%2f06568718<\/a> : accessed 11 December 2016), entry for Arthur Casben, arrived at Sydney, New South Wales, 23 Oct 1913 aboard T S S Miltiades<\/em>.
\n[5]<\/a> “Australia Electoral Rolls,” images and transcriptions, findmypast<\/em> (http:\/\/search.findmypast.com\/record?id=au%2felectoralroll%2f323%2f001807930<\/a> : accessed 8 June 2017), Wilfred Arthur Ackerman Casben, 84 Waterloo Road, Bankstown North, New South Wales.
\n[6]<\/a> \u201cEngagement Announced,\u201d The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald<\/em>, 15 Feb 1939, p. 8, col. 4; image copy, Trove<\/em> (http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article17543390<\/a> : accessed 5 October 2016).
\n[7]<\/a> “New South Wales Marriages 1788-1945,” Sydney, reg. no. 376, Wilfred Arthur Ackerman & Florence Amelia Still, 1940; database, findmypast<\/em> (http:\/\/search.findmypast.com\/record?id=anz%2fbmd%2fnsw%2fm%2f0002643832<\/a> : accessed 6 October 2016).
\n[8]<\/a> Casben “Swim N’ Play” advertisement, Australian Women’s Weekly<\/em>, 10 Nov 1954, p. 62; image copy, Trove<\/em> (http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-page5791063<\/a> : accessed 9 June 2017).<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article appeared in the October 19, 1951 edition of The (Melbourne, Australia) Argus.[1] \u201cMr. W. A. Casben\u201d is Wilfred Arthur Ackerman Casben, eldest son of Arthur Casben (1886\u20131961). We were briefly introduced to Wilfred in \u201cAustralia bound,\u201d\u00a0an earlier post describing Arthur\u2019s origins in England and his emigration to Australia. I\u2019ve had little to say… Continue reading \u201cRags\u201d to Riches<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42,45,50,92,234,396,503,672],"class_list":["post-4351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy","tag-arthur","tag-australia","tag-bankstown","tag-casben","tag-florence-still","tag-leonora-ackerman","tag-noel","tag-wilfred"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbXrZc-18b","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4351"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8805,"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4351\/revisions\/8805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}