James FERGUSON MM

FERGUSON, James

Service Number: 2821
Enlisted: 5 July 1915, Liverpool, New South Wales
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 56th Infantry Battalion
Born: Minmi, New South Wales, Australia, 8 May 1890
Home Town: Merewether, Newcastle, New South Wales
Schooling: Minmi Public School & Hamilton Public School
Occupation: Butcher
Died: Died of wounds, Passchendaele, Belgium, 29 September 1917, aged 27 years
Cemetery: Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
Plot XX, Row C, Grave No. 9, Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Lijssenthoek, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honour, Merewether Memorial Gates, Minmi St Andrew's Church Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

5 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Liverpool, New South Wales
30 Sep 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2821, 4th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1,

--- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: ''

30 Sep 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2821, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney
21 Aug 1917: Honoured Military Medal, 'The Winter Offensive' - Flers/Gueudecourt winter of 1916/17, Near GUEDECOURT, on 4th December, 1916
29 Sep 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2821, 56th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2821 awm_unit: 56th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-09-29

Help us honour James Ferguson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From Gary Mitchell, Sandgate Cemetery

Sergeant James Ferguson M.M., 56th Battalion, butcher from Merewether, New South Wales, died 29th September 1917 of wounds received on the 26th September 1917 at the Battle of Polygon Wood, age 27.
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1732397

Born at Minmi, New South Wales on the 8th May 1890 to Robert and Margaret Ferguson of Carrington Street, West Wallsend, New South Wales; grandson to Mary Barr (died 1927) of Railway Street, Merewether, New South Wales, who is buried at PRESBYTERIAN-8NW. 7.

Now resting at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium. Plot XX Row C Grave 9.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159371169
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138161075
James has also been remembered on the Minmi St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour, Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honor, West Wallsend Superior Public School Roll of Honour, West Wallsend Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour, Merewether School of Arts Roll of Honour, Merewether (Mitchell Park) Memorial Gates, West Wallsend Soldiers' Memorial and the Merewether Advance Football Club Roll of Honour.

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Biography

"...2821 Sergeant James Ferguson, 56th Battalion, of Merewether, NSW. A butcher prior to enlisting in June 1915, Private Ferguson embarked from Sydney with the 4th Battalion, 9th Reinforcements, on board HMAT Argyllshire (A8) on 30 September 1915. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on 9 September 1916. In February 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for acting with extreme bravery in retrieving wounded and bringing up rations while under heavy machine gun fire near Gueudecourt, France. On 29 September 1917, Sgt Ferguson MM died of wounds received in action at Passchendaele, Belgium. He was 27 years of age." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

Awarded the Military Medal

"Near GUEDECOURT, this N.C.O. who is in charge of the Company Lewis Guns, on 4th December, 1916, during which the Platoon to which he was attached was being relieved by a Platoon of the 55th Battalion, noticed one of the men belonging to the relief fall into a shell hole, apparently wounded through hostile machine gun fure. Sergeant FERGUSON jumped out of the fire trench and went over to the supposed casualty, but finding that the man had merely taken a precautionary measure commenced to make his way back to the fire trench, when he discovered that another man of the relief was bogged in an old communication trench close by. He went back, still under fire, and, at personal risk, extricated the second man from the rt to front line, he did splendid work on several occasions. On one occasion three of his party became casualties and he volunteered to go back and bring up the rations. This he carried out successfully under very heavy shell fire. The effect of his conduct on his men was inspiring throughout." Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 133 - Date: 21 August 1917
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