Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of James and Marion FRAME; husband of Jane Elizabeth FRAME, Hepburn Springs, Daylesford, Victoria. 

THE DEARLY LOVED HUSBAND OF JANE & FATHER OF OLIVE, GORDON & KEITH

FRAME.- In loving memory at my dear husband and our dear daddy, No. 527, L.-Cpl. James Thomas Frame, 4th Machine-gun Co., who died of gas  poisoning received on Passchendaele Ridge, 18th October, 1917.
Our dear, brave daddy.
Some day we'll understand.
-(Inserted by his loving wife and little children, Hepburn Springs.)

James Frame was born in Tinana, outside Maryborough, Queensland in 1885 to James and Marion Frame. The records are unhelpful in providing any information on his early life, but information recorded in the Roll of Honour Circular completed by Jane Frame, his wife, mentions a nephew, Matthew Caldwell who gave an address at Torbanlea. James Frame and Ellen Caldwell (Matthew’s mother) were probably siblings and may have been she who arranged for her brother’s name to be added to the Howard memorial.

When James presented himself for enlistment in Melbourne on 6th March 1916, he stated his address as “Tinana House”, Hepburn Springs near Daylesford. James was 31 years old and employed as an engine driver. The term engine driver could relate to steam locomotives but could also be used to describe a stationary steam engine used in mine winch houses or in industry requiring engine power.

James also advised that he was married to Jane Elizabeth and had a daughter, Olive and a son James who went by the name of Gordon. At the time of his enlistment, James and Jane were expecting a third child who was born just before James departed for overseas. This was a second son, Keith.

James was posted to the 4th Machine Gun Battalion at Seymour for preliminary training before Embarking on the “Berrima” in Adelaide on 16th December 1916. The embarkation roll shows that James had allocated 4/- of his 5/- daily pay to his wife and children who continued to live at Hepburn Springs.

James and the other members of MG Battalion arrived in Devonport on 16th February 1917 and marched in to camp at Perham Downs, before moving on to the Machine Gun School at Belton Park, Grantham. After almost seven months in the training school, James was finally posted overseas, sailing from Southampton 26th September 1917. While James and his colleagues had been in camp in England, the British Command opened a new campaign in Belgian Flanders in the area of the ancient city of Ypres. The campaign was officially called the 3rd Battle of Ypres but many soldiers named it after the worst battle of the campaign, Passchendaele.

While in transit to the front, James was reallocated to the 11th Machine Gun Company, part of the 11th Infantry Brigade. James and the reinforcements were probably diverted to provide reinforcements to the 11th MG Coy after an bombing incident in the company lines a week earlier at Poperinghe resulted in the death of 11 and wounding of 64. Incidentally one of those killed was Norman Cox who is also commemorated on the Howard memorial.

On 4th October, as elements of the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions assaulted Broodseinde Ridge, heavy rain began to fall. It did not stop for two months. The countryside between Ypres and Passchendaele was low lying and farmers had for centuries been draining the fields using a system of canals which had been obliterated after three years of war. Constant artillery fire which churned up the ground compounded by incessant rain turned the battlefield into a sea of clinging mud in which men, animals and equipment floundered. Beginning on the  12th October, several Australian Brigades were ordered into an attack on the village of Passchendaele. Platoons and companies became bogged down in mud up to their waists as they moved up to the start line. Successive attempts to reach Passchendaele failed. Artillery which was supposed to provide a covering barrage sank into the mud after firing one shell and had to be dug out again. The 11th MG Coy War Diary records that on 16th October, the company lost 15 men killed, 15 men wounded and 11 gassed. The company also lost three Vickers Guns which sank in the mud as well as 12 animals that drowned or became stuck in the mud. Passchendaele proved to be a disaster, an heroic but futile struggle against the elements and the enemy.

Unfortunately, James Frame was one of those gassed on 16th October. He was taken to the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station near Poperinghe where he died two days later. James was buried in the Nine Elms British Cemetery adjacent to the CCS with full military honours. He had been with his unit a total of eight days. The authorities were quick in granting pensions to James dependants; Jane received two pound per fortnight, Olive received one pound, James (Gordon) 15 shillings and baby Keith 10 shillings.

Jane engaged the services of a Daylesford solicitor to speed up the process of winding up her husband’s affairs. A package of James’ personal effects, including letters, postcards, notebooks and a scarf, was shipped to Jane in July 1918 but the ship, the “Barunga” was torpedoed by a U Boat and all luggage and baggage was lost. A second package containing a lodge certificate and a wristwatch did safely arrive at “Tinana House”. Jane also wrote to the authorities enquiring about how she could go about purchasing the plot where James was buried. The authorities in Melbourne wisely suggested that she would have to take the matter up with the Imperial War Graves Commission. The matter then lapsed.

Jane chose the following inscription to be carved on James headstone:

THE DEARLY LOVED HUSBAND OF JANE AND FATHER OF OLIVE, GORDON AND KEITH.