DAVISON, James
| Service Number: | 2910 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 7 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 31st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Arncliffe, New South Wales, Australia, 17 May 1893 |
| Home Town: | Glenfield, Campbelltown Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Fort Street Primary School & Sydney Technical High School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Railway clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 29 September 1917, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient), Sydney Technical High School WW1 Roll Of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 7 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1 | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 2910, 31st Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Anchises embarkation_ship_number: A68 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 2910, 31st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Anchises, Melbourne |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
James DAVISON (Service Number 2910) was born on 17 May 1893. He began his career with the Railways on 26 November 1910 as an apprentice clerk. By 19 June 1914, he was promoted to clerk. He joined the AIF on 1 January 1916, at the age of 22, embarking from Melbourne on 14 March 1916, on HMAT ‘Anchises’ A68. He later embarked to join the British Expeditionary Force from Alexandria on 20 June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles on 30 June 1916.
He died, in the field in Belgium on 26/27 September 1917, at the age of 24. One of his friends later confirmed that he had seen him die, that he had been ‘hit by a shell’. However, this friend had no knowledge of burial, and unfortunately, no such knowledge was acquired.
Submitted 13 June 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by John Oakes
James DAVISON (Service Number 2910) was born on 17th May 1893. He began his career with the Railways on 26th November 1910 as an apprentice clerk. By 19th June 1914, he had been promoted to clerk. He joined the AIF on 1st January 1916 at the age of 22. He embarked inth Melbourne on 14 March 1916 on HMAT ‘Anchises’ A68. He later embarked to join the British Expeditionary Force from Alexandria (Egypt) on 20th June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles (France) on 30th June 1916.
He became ill and was taken to the hospital in France on 8th August 1916. He re-joined his unit on 22nd August 1916. He was sent to the 3rd Army Sniping School on 9th July 1917. He re-joined his unit on 22nd July. He went to the UK for leave on 3rd August 1917 and returned on 3rd September 1917.
He was reported wounded and missing in action on 26th September. It was not until late in 1918 that it was determined that he had died. This was in the field in Belgium on 26th or 27th September 1917 at the age of 24. One of his friends later confirmed that he had seen him die. He had been ‘hit by a shell’. However, this friend had no knowledge of burial. There is still no knowledge of any burial.
His sister, who was then his next of kin, was sent the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service, together with some of his personal items, including a scarf and a cigarette case. He is commemorated in Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
James DAVISON (Service Number 2910) was born on 17th May 1893. He began his career with the Railways on 26th November 1910 as an apprentice clerk. By 19th June 1914, he had been promoted to clerk. He joined the AIF on 1st January 1916 at the age of 22. He embarked inth Melbourne on 14 March 1916 on HMAT ‘Anchises’ A68. He later embarked to join the British Expeditionary Force from Alexandria (Egypt) on 20th June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles (France) on 30th June 1916.
He became ill and was taken to the hospital in France on 8th August 1916. He re-joined his unit on 22nd August 1916. He was sent to the 3rd Army Sniping School on 9th July 1917. He re-joined his unit on 22nd July. He went to the UK for leave on 3rd August 1917 and returned on 3rd September 1917.
He was reported wounded and missing in action on 26th September. It was not until late in 1918 that it was determined that he had died. This was in the field in Belgium on 26th or 27th September 1917 at the age of 24. One of his friends later confirmed that he had seen him die. He had been ‘hit by a shell’. However, this friend had no knowledge of burial. There is still no knowledge of any burial.
His sister, who was then his next of kin, was sent the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service, together with some of his personal items, including a scarf and a cigarette case. He is commemorated in Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
Biography contributed by Sydney Technical High School
James Davison (2910)
James Davison (Service number 2910) was born on the 17th of May 1893 in Arncliffe NSW (1). He was a private that served in the British Expeditionary Force being of average stature at the height of 5’8” weighing in at 58 kilograms (2) . James was part of a family of 3 from a Roman Catholic background (3), his family consisted of his sister, Bertha Wilkinson and his two parents, George Davison (Father) and Lavinia Thompson (Mother) who both married in 1884 (4).
James’ schooling had first started in Fort Street Public School (5) before going on to enrol into Sydney Technical High School as a scholarship holder at age 15 (6), During his time at Sydney Technical High School, it is to be noted that he had scored excellently in his term reports (7) . Before James’ graduation from Sydney Tech at the end of 1910 (8) , he had started his career as an apprentice clerk (9) .
Around 4 years later on the 19th of June, James was promoted to an apprentice clerk (10), this date would be crucial to James’ future as just a week after his promotion, Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the Austria-Hungarian empire was assassinated in Sarajevo marking the official start to world war 1.
On the 20th December 1915 at Casula (11) , James had made the vital decision to enlist for the army, he was put in the 31st battalion, 5th reinforcement (12), meanwhile it would also be decided that the infantry divisions would be sent to serve in the many battles which took place in the western front.
On the 14th of March 1916, James had boarded the ship HMAT ‘Anchises’ A68 in Melbourne where he went to Egypt to serve (13). 2 months later, he had embarked to join the British Expeditionary Force from Alexandria (Egypt) on 20th of June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles (France) on the 30th of June (14). It is to be noted that during the time James was overseas, he would write back to his family and friends (15). On the 8th of August the same year, James had fallen ill for an unknown reason and was taken to a hospital in France, rejoining his units around 2 weeks later as he made a recovery (16).
On the 9th of July 1917, James was sent to the third army sniping school rejoining his unit on the 22nd of July (17). Later in the month marked the start of the battle of Ypres which ended up being one of the most costly and horrific campaigns fought by Australia and the battle which would be a very tragic one for James Davison. On the 3rd of August 1917 James had travelled to the United Kingdom and stayed there for approximately a month before returning back to his army unit at September (18).
On the 26th of September 1916 a very unfortunate event would befall James, James had been reported missing / killed in action (20) with his friend claiming to have seen him hit by a shell. He died in the Battle of Polygon Wood (third stage of the Battle of Ypres) (21) . He was only officially listed as dead during late 1918 with no currently known knowledge of his burial (22).
Footnotes
(1) VWMA
(2) AIF Project
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid.
(5) VWMA
(6) Turner Letter 1910
(7) Ibid.
(8) Turner Letter 1910 + Reunion Students Invitation 1962
(9) VWMA
(10) Ibid.
(11) AIF Project
(12) Ibid.
(13) VWMA
(14) Ibid.
(15) NAA Records PTE James Davison Pg 61
(16) VWMA
(17) Ibid.
(18) Ibid.
(19) Ibid.
(20) Ibid.
(21) James Davison Red Cross Pg 3.
(22) Ibid.
(23) VWMA
(24) Turner Letter 1910
(25) James Davison Red Cross Pg 3.
(26) VWMA
(27) Ibid.
(28) 1910 Students with Tonkin
Bibliography
● Ken Stevenson, Research on google drive
● https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/72358 Virtual War Memorial Australia (VWMA)
● https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=74915 AIF Project
● DAVISON James clerk NSWGR Turner Letter 1910
● DAVISON James clerk NSWGR Reunion Students Invitation 1962
● https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3491820 NAA Records PTE James Davison
● DAVISON James clerk NSWGR James Davison Red Cross