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Leslie Saunders Jerrams was born in 1889 in Middleton Cheney, Oxford. He enlisted in Melbourne, Victoria, on 11 January 1916 and served with the 1st Wireless Squadron A.I.F. in Mesopotamia.

Leslie Saunders Jerram was born on 27 June 1889 in Middleton Cheney, Oxford, the son of Thomas Jerrams (1857-1938) and Mary Ann Bridger (1856-1899). In 1910, aged 21, he left his fianceé Annie behind in England and sailed to Australia aboard the ship Barbarossa, arriving in Sydney on 8 February 1911 from Antwerp. Moving to Melbourne, he found a job as a cheesemaker.

Three and half years later, when the First World War began in August 1914, Jerrams did not enlist. Immediately after the landings at Gallipoli, which occurred on 25 April 1915, Jerrams again did not enlist, despite the Victorian government's significant recruitment drive in the latter half of 1915 and the growing pressure to enlist within the community as the first veterans returned to Australia from Middle East service and men of recruiting age were constantly asked why they had not joined the A.I.F.

The pressure finally got to Jerrams, for he left his cheesemaking job at Cave Hill, near Lilydale in Victoria, enlisting with the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) in Melbourne on 11 January 1916. He was sent to Signal School at Broadmeadows on 31 January 1916. The Unit History, With Horse and Morse in Mesopotamia, records that Broadmeadows was used as the concentration point for recruits likely to be of use in the Signal service, including those with skills as wireless operators, mechanics, instruments repairers, visual signallers, and drivers. There would seem to be little need for a cheesemaker in Mesopotamia; however, through cheese delivery, Jerrams picked up the driving skills necessary to join the squadron as a Driver.

The initial establishment of the 1st Wireless Squadron consisted of an officer and 54 other ranks, and these men set off for Mesopotamia in January without the Headquarters. On 23 March 1916, whilst Jerrams continued training at Broadmeadows, he became sick and was transferred to No. 5 Australian General Hospital (5 A.G.H.) in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. After recovering, he returned to Signals School, where he remained until 9 May 1916. During his absence, Imperial authorities had requested an expansion of the Wireless establishment. Consequently, on 30 May, Leslie Jerrams and the Squadron Headquarters (S.H.Q.) men and "A" Troop embarked aboard the P&O steamer R.M.S. Morea for Mesopotamia. They reached Fremantle on 13 June and were given a day's leave onshore before setting sail for Colombo, Ceylon, where they stayed overnight in the Echelon Barracks.

The squadron arrived in Bombay, India on 22 June and were disembarked by tender, where they stayed at Colaba Barracks. Here the men were issued with their summer uniforms. The men's felt slouch hats were replaced by topees. The photo of the Squadron, held by the Australian War Memorial, was taken in Bombay and  shows the men in their new uniforms. Leslie Saunders is in the back row, far left.

On 24 June, S.H.Q.and "A" Troop embarked for Basra aboard the British India Steam Navigation Company ship SS Ellenga (Unit history incorrectly calls the ship Ellengra), stopping overnight in Karachi on the 27th before proceeding to Muscat, where they departed on the 30th after experiencing intense heat. The next stop was Bushire in Persia, where they arrived on 3 July before completing a day's sailing to the mouth of the Shatt Al Arab River. They had finally arrived in Mesopotamia. The next day a pilot was taken aboard, and the squadron proceeded upriver to Basra, which they reached at 4.45 pm. This small contingent of Australians was experiencing a very different war than most Australian troops who had been arriving in France from March and would be attacking the village of Pozieres by the end of the month.  

Having arrived at Basra, the men remained on board the ship until 6 July, when they disembarked at Magil Wharf. Here the squadron met up with "B" and "C" troops who had arrived earlier. Immediately the lack of acclimatisation began to take its toll on the men, and by the end of the month, "A" troop's effective number was down to under 30, less than half the initial strength. The climate in the Basra district was the most humid in the country, and the troops did not benefit from cool nights as they might have further up the river. Sandflies and mosquitoes meant little sleep was possible by day or night. Men would be seen walking about the camp at all hours to escape the distraction of vainly seeking sleep hour after hour. During the daytime, the men would lie in their tents nearly naked; owing to prickly heat, many men were under doctor's orders to discard their pants. Consequently, they went about the camp in shirts and toppees only, causing universal amusement.

On 29 July 1916, Jerrams was admitted to No. 3 British General Hospital in Basra, suffering from cholera. He remained in the hospital until 1 September. As shown in the photo below, No. 3 British General Hospital occupied a palace of the Sheikh of Mohammera on the right bank of the Tigris. Steamers would transport casualties to a wooden pier on the riverbank.

In October, the squadron was split into packs, labelled A – L and then dispersed to various Headquarters and formations. However Jerrams service records do not show that he was attached to any of these packs. Having been released from the hospital after his brush with cholera, Jerrams returned to hospital again on 28 October, this time to 33 British General Hospital at Makina. This hospital was set up in an old liquorice factory. He had contracted malaria and did not recover. He was invalided to India aboard HMHS Syria on 6 December 1916.

He disembarked in India on 13 December 1916, and was admitted to the Station Hospital in Poona where he spent many months recovering from a very severe case of malaria. He continued to suffer malaria attacks at least once every fortnight for the next seven months. Consequently, it was decided to send him home for six months leave in Australia.

He left Calcutta for Australia on 25 September 1917 abaoard SS Gracchus. He disembarked in Melbourne on 20 October 1917, still suffering malaria and was admitted to 5 A.G.H. on 5 November 1917 after disembarkation leave. Having not recovered, he was discharged from the A.I.F. on 3 December 1917.

Post-discharge, he sought a war pension in Victoria in March 1918 due to incapacity from malaria however, this was rejected despite the medical determination that the malaria was a result of active service. This may have been the catalyst for his return to England, where he resumed his relationship with his fiancée, he had left in 1910. He married Annie May Woolmer (1889 -1974) in Ware, Hampshire, in 1919. They would go on to have three children, Dorothy May (1920-2016), Daphne (1923-2016) and Peggy (1925-2013). He became a bricklayer and served as an air raid warden during the Second World War.

Leslie Jerrams died on 6 July 1954 in Stafford, England.

Sources:

NAA: B2455, JERRAMS LESLIE SAUNDERS.

Burke, Keast With Horse and Morse in Mesopotamia, Sydney: McQuitty & Co. 1927.

Robson, L.L., The First A.I.F., Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1970.