FOLLINGTON, James
| Service Numbers: | 2624, 2624A |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Namoi River District, New South Wales, Australia, 1890 |
| Home Town: | Darlinghurst, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Fuelman and Boilermaker |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 24 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 2624, 18th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 2624, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 24 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 2624A, 3rd Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2624A awm_unit: 3 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-24 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
James FOLLINGTON (Service Number 2624A) was born in the Namoi River district of NSW in 1891. He served an apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Melbourne before joining the NSWGR, probably in the Tamworth area, where his parents at one time lived and where he was well known. He is noted as a new railway union member in 1912 in East Tamworth. His employee card records his employment only as beginning in March 1914 as a fuelman in the Murrurundi District, which covered a large part of northern NSW at the time. Before his enlistment in the AIF in Sydney in July 1915 (when he gave his ‘trade or calling’ as blacksmith) he is said to have been stationed at Werris Creek.
A Court of Enquiry determined that he had been killed in action on or about 24th July 1916. He is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Submitted 7 July 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by John Oakes
James FOLLINGTON (Service Number 2624A) was born in the Namoi River district of NSW in 1891. He served an apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Melbourne before joining the NSW Government Railways.in March 1914. He was a fuelman in the Murrurundi District. Before his enlistment in the AIF in Sydney in July 1915 (when he gave his occupation as blacksmith) he was stationed at Werris Creek.
He embarked from Sydney in October 1915. He was sent via Egypt to France, where he landed in March 1916.
He was reported wounded in action between 22nd and 27th July, then as wounded and missing. A year later a Court of Enquiry determined that he had been killed in action on or about 24th July 19116,
He was buried at a map reference ‘in the vicinity of Pozières’, but his grave could not later be found. He is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. A war pension was granted to his widowed mother.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board