Add New Content


Please log in or register to add new content.

Login

Report Inaccuracies


George James (1879-1918)


Durham born served with 41st Infantry AIF killed in action on St Quentin Canal


George James died on 29 September 1918 and was buried in the Unicorn British Cemetery in Northern France. He had no family to mourn him and, eventually all his worldly goods, including his medals and war gratuity, were passed to his pal, Hugh Halferty, who had shared the same lodgings in Emerald, Queensland (QLD), Australia.

George joined the Australian Army in Rockhampton, QLD, on 31 January 1917. He gave his place of birth as Durham and was 37 years and 6 months old at the time. He seemed to have no existing family, naming his friend, Hugh, a fellow lodger at the Railway Hotel in Emerald, both as his executor and next of kin. At the time he was working as a labourer.

George was 5′ 8″ tall, weighed just 10 stone, and was fair of complexion and hair, with brown eyes. His medical records note that he had a flat right foot and poor teeth. He gave his religion as Church of England. George joined the army as a private in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He was initially assigned to the 13th Machine Gun Company but when he eventually went to France, he joined the 41st (Infantry) Battalion.

He embarked from Melbourne on 21 June 1917 to undertake advanced training in England before proceeding to France on 4 December 1917, being promoted to the rank of lance corporal a month later. At that time, the 41st Battalion was based in the Belgian Sector, with the men, including George, being rotated between duties in the rear areas and the front line. When the German Army launched its last great offensive in March 1918, the battalion was rushed south to France to help stop the drive towards the vital railway junction at Amiens.

On 26 May 1918, George was caught in a gas attack and had to be hospitalised in France whilst his lungs recovered. He eventually returned to his unit on 8 September. The Allies had launched their own offensive on 8 August and the 41st Battalion played an active role in the long advance that followed throughout the August and September. On 29 September, the Battalion formed part of the last major action of the war, attacking the Hindenburg Line along the St Quentin Canal. But it was to be a battle too many for George and he was killed in action on the opening day of the offensive.

George was buried in the Unicorn British Cemetery at Vendhuile, 19 kilometres north of St Quentin.

The Records Unit of the Australian Army made extensive inquiries, trying to find any distant relations of George but were unsuccessful; his pal and beneficiary Hugh Halferty was unable to supply any details of George’s long lost family. In 1923, the Army gave up the search and Hugh Halferty eventually inherited all of George’s belongings: his medals and his war gratuity, in accordance with George’s last will and testament.

Civil Parish: Durham

Birth date: 1879

Death date: 29-Sep-1918

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Railway Hotel, Emerald, Queensland, Australia (1917 attestation papers)

Religion: Church of England

Employment: Labourer

Military service:

Service Number 721
Private
13th Machine Gun Company, AIF
Transferred to 41st (Infantry) Battalion, AIF & promoted to Lance Corporal 18-Jan-1918
Wounded in action (gassed) 26-May-1918. Killed in action 29-Sep-1918

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Memorial(s): Unicorn British Cemetery, Vendhuile, France

Gender: Male

Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station

Comments on this story


Comment

There are no comments on this story yet.