PAT FOSBERY QUITS EXPRESS FOR NEW
JOB IN AUSTRALIA


this was in the UK headlines in September 1967 when a late migrant to Australia, my Godfather and Uncle, Desmond - always referred to by his associates outside the family as "Pat" - Fosbery left England to rejoin his wife Mary and daughter Patricia living with her husband Barry Manners and the first grandchild in Western Australia on the coast between Fremantle and Perth.

It was a big leap from a top executive desk in London's Fleet Street to take up the administration of a holiday centre in SW Australia, but that's just what he did as a vigorous 55 yrold in order to be near his only child and young grandchildren - the second was expected about the time of his leaving for WA.

Desmond Fitzgerald Alexander Lewis Fosbery was born in Dublin in 1912, the youngest son of George F.W. Fosbery and his wife Vivian. When the family moved to London in 1917 he was still very young.

After my Grandfather's death in 1922 young Desmond was returned to Dublin where he finished his scholastic education at the Masonic School Dublin through the help of his late father's Dublin associates.

In 1929 on leaving school he joined Beaverbrook as a junior clerk in the advertising department. Some years later he had advanced to the Sunday Express as canvas manager. During the '30s up to the war, he covered all circulation promotional work becoming eventually Assistant Circulation Manager. During this time he lived in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Carlisle, Newcastle, Stoke-on-Trent, Northampton and Liverpool and met and married his wife Mary.

During WWII he served in the Royal Air Force and spent some time at Banff in the Canadian Rockies. As a young boy I was very impressed with his collection of Canadian Indian artefacts and wall hangings, and photographs of Rodeo Cowboys. After his war service 'Pat' went back to Manchester for two years, and the family, which now included their baby Patricia, subsequently moved to the group's Paris Bureau where he was appointed General Manager.

In 1948 he returned to London as Deputy Circulation Manager of the Daily Express and later was Circulation Manager of the Sunday Express, until being appointed Assistant General Manager of the Evening Standard in 1958. At the end of that year he was appointed General Manager of the Sunday Express until 1961 when he was transferred to Group Management where he remained until retiring to go to Australia.

The next thirty years he devoted to his family and their interests in Western Australia. Including at first the Family Watersports concession at Rottnest Island, and later his daughter Patricia's Horse Breeding and Racing career with her Adare Stud.

Desmond 'Pat' Fosbery died in WA in June 1998. His wife having died some years earlier, he is survived by Patricia and Barry Manners and their sons Matt and Paul and their families.

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