RAMSEY, James Henry
| Service Number: | 5431 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 November 1915, Enlisted at Cootamundra |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Penrith, New South Wales, Australia, February 1887 |
| Home Town: | West Wyalong, Bland, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Died: | Illness, France, 2 August 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Wyalong Soldiers Memorial Hall |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Nov 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5431, 54th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Cootamundra | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 5431, 2nd Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 5431, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney | |
| 2 Aug 1917: | Involvement Private, 5431, 54th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 5431 awm_unit: 54th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-08-02 |
Help us honour James Henry Ramsey's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Kathleen Bambridge
His personal effects returned to AIF Base Records Melbourne 1920 awaiting a claimant.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
James Henry Ramsey was born about February 1887 at Penrith, NSW. The location associated with Ramsey is West Wyalong as that is the ‘Place of Association’ given at the AWM and there is a complimentary piece about him in the Wyalong Advocate of 18th August 1917. He worked for the Railways as a porter.
He enlisted at Cootamundra on 16th November 1915, giving as his next of kin his father, William Ramsey of Eugowra.
He was allotted to the 2nd Battalion.. Ramsey embarked HMAT ‘Ceramic’ at Sydney on 14th April 1916 and reached Suez on 16th May. He was taken into the 1st Training Battalion, and then the 14th Training Battalion before being allotted to the 54th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir on 24th May. A month later he embarked HMT ‘Ivernia’ at Alexandria, reaching Marseilles on 29th June and proceeding to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France. He was taken on the strength of his Battalion on 3rd August 1916.
On 25th November 1916 he was in hospital, sick with tonsillitis and this led to a cascading set of admissions to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance, the 45th Casualty Clearing Station, the 18th General Hospital, the 6th Convalescent Depot, the 5th Convalescent Depot and the 5th Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples, before he re-joined his unit on 22nd January 1917.
On 5th March 1917 he was in hospital again with gastritis and the new set of admissions were the 15th Australian Field Ambulance and the 5th Divisional Rest Station before he re-joined the 54th Battalion on 25th March. He fell ill again with ‘Gastric’ on 13th May and was admitted to the 14th Australian Field Ambulance and the 5th Divisional Rest Station, where the case was marked ‘N.Y.D.’ – not yet diagnosed. There were more new admissions, this time to the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital, the Ambulance Train, the 18th General Hospital (where the diagnosis was now deafness), No. 6 Convalescent Depot and once again to the 5th Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples on 17th June 1917.
On 15th July he was in hospital again, first at Le Havre and then at the 40th Stationary Hospital at Harfleur with N.Y.D. He died there ten days later on 2nd August 1917 from chronic kidney disease. He was buried at Ste Marie Cemetery Extension, Le Havre.
The military authorities, following the advice given by Ramsey on his Attestation Papers, sent communications and parcels to William Ramsey at Eugowra, but they were returned. Agnes Cottle wrote several letters claiming to have been engaged to him and therefore to be the recipient of his allotment . She said that he had told her in recent letters that she was his legatee. To the best of her knowledge:
‘[she was] under the impression that he is an orphan. He came to Australia, I fancy from England, about 8 years ago.’
A note in Ramsey’s military record suggests that his personal effects were placed in the salvage store in December 1927.
There is no record of the issuance of the British War Medal or Victory Medal and records for the Memorial Plaque, the Memorial Scroll and the booklet ‘Where the Australians Rest’ are marked ‘Untraceables 4/9/22’.
- based on the Australian War Memorila Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.