A brief life history, written by his Grandson, Philip John Barden

Ethelbert Ernest was the son of the Rev. Joseph Henry Daish and his wife Ruth, nee Fife.

The Daish side of the family originated from the Isle of Wight, however Ernest was born in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, on 11th October 1870 where his father was doing missionary work. When the family returned to England around 1876, Ernest trained as a grocer on the Isle of Wight, from 1887 to 1890. In 1904 he married Margaret Hannah Gentle at Newport, Isle of Wight. They then lived at Bridport, St. Albans, and Whaley Bridge. They had three children, two girls and a boy.

In 1914 at the outbreak of war, Ethelbert joined the Royal Navy as a Petty Officer. In 1918 his wife died and the family returned to the Island. In 1919 he was on a hospital ship as part of the North Russia Expeditionary Force during which he wrote an account of the trip. My mother could remember her father (Ethelbert) sending a letter, from Russia, written on the bark of a tree. He also brought back with him a bear fur and a pair of “muffs” made out of squirrels fur. In 1920 he remarried to Lillian Barratt and continued in the retail trade in Newport.

During his life he was also a local Methodist lay preacher, hence his accounts of some of the Russian churches, and perhaps the apparent abstinence of alcohol!