J Ashton Freeman was a journalist and wildlife author. Freeman was a journalist for The Evening Mail, Freeman was the pseudonym for Cyril Herbert Wilson who resided at Bayswater Terrace in Greystones. He later wrote a nature column for children for the Irish Press, f which he wrote over 4000 columns and presented a radio show for RTÉ. He wrote Wild Wisdom Book 1. He married the firstly to wildlife artist Stella Gore, born Stella Mary Cuthbert. Stella died in 1963 she was of Bayview, Greystones and was described as the wife of Cyril H Wilson, otherwise known as J Ashton Freeman. Though Stella was an accomplish artist in her own right. Cyril died in 1967 aged 68 at Bayview Terrace and was survived by his second wife Eileen Wilson.
Bibliography
The Irish Times; Obituary Stella Gore; June 13th 1963, Page 9
The Irish Times; Obituary Cyril Wilson; Thursday, November 8th 1967, Page 9
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I have to say I knew J Ashton Freeman from his newspaper columns in the 1960s. My father bought the Evening Press every evening on his way home from work and I was always thrilled to read his column. I remember in particular his descriptions of the adventures of an otter, and I would wait with bated breath to read his next instalment, to find out how the otter had fared.
I never actually heard his radio reports, and I wasn’t aware that his target audience was youngsters like me, but I was totally captivated by his newspaper columns, he was a huge inspiration to me. I often wondered who he was, or where he lived. I have now learned from Google that his real name was Cyril Herbert Wilson, so I am a little disappointed to learn his pseudonym was not his real name.
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