Aubrey Staples was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) on 6 February 1921, the son of George and Edith Louise Staples.  He attended Worcester Boys’ High School.

In 1940 he joined the SANF as a rating. He was later recommended for promotion and entered the Officers’ Training Colleges, HMS KING ALFRED I and KING ALFRED II, in Sussex. He was appointed Acting Sub Lieutenant, SANF on 29 January 1943 and was confirmed Sub Lieutenant on 29 July 1943.

Having volunteered for ‘Special Service’ he trained as a X-craft Submariner at HMS VARBEL. He was given command of HMS XE11. The submarine was lost on the morning of 6 March 1945.  XE11 had been calibrating instruments in Loch Striven when she drifted out of her area.  When changing depth and coming shallow XE11 accidentally came into collision with the Boom Defence Vessel NORINA which was laying buoys. The hull was holed by the ship’s propellor, the submarine flooded up and sank to the bottom at a depth of over 180 feet. Of the five crew members onboard at the time two managed to escape but Aubrey Staples and two ratings were lost.

Aubrey Staples is buried in the Rothesay Cemetery, Bute in Section L, Grave No. 2089.  He is commemorated on the 12^th Submarine Flotilla memorials at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and at Kylesku, and on the South African Naval Forces Memorial in Simonstown,  South Africa.