Police Sergeant Ashby is the bearer of bad news when he arrives on Polly and Albert’s doorstep in chapter fifteen of Barefoot on the Cobbles.

James Charles Ashby was born on 1 January 1874 in Holsworthy, the son of James and Grace Ashby née Jones. James followed in his father’s footsteps and began his working life on a local farm. In the mid-1890s he joined Devon Constabulary.

James married Hannah Mary Luscombe in Wolborough on 27 December 1899. They are believed to have had three children. In 1901, he was working as a police constable in Highweek, Newton Abbot, he is also known to have worked in Bishop’s Nympton and Dawlish. He was serving in the Bideford area at the time of the novel but moved to Budleigh Salterton before his retirement in 1922. In 1939 he was living at 7 Imperial Road, Exmouth and was working as a caretaker. He died in Honiton in 1959.

‘Polly was unable to raise her gaze above the middle of the policeman’s chest. Her mind was captivated by insignificant details, the shiny buttons that marched down Ashby’s tunic, the red weal on his neck, left by the chin strap of his helmet. Everything about the man’s attire seemed too small for his formidable frame. His collar was tight, the leather belt with its metal clasp, was stretched across his ample stomach, even his boots were taut and misshapen by the bunions that were a legacy of past years on the beat.’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.