Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

He was 22 and the son of Elizabeth Cooke and the late Jabez Abraham, of State School, Eumundi/ Eumandi, N.C. Line, Queensland.

                                   INSCRIPTION

GOD IS LOVE AND UNDERNEATH ARE THE EVERLASTING ARMS

His brother Private Cyril Frank Abraham, aged 28 also fell. He served with the 49th Battalion and died 20th October 1918. He rests in VILLERS-BRETONNEUX MILITARY CEMETERY-Grave XVII. AA. 5.

Brother of 7009 Pte. Cyril Frank Abraham (/explore/people/95351) who died of illness in France on 20 Oct 1918

 
3113 ABRAHAM Jabez (Jay)   15th / 47th Battalion
 
Jay Abraham was born at Hemmant near Brisbane on 26th March 1893 to parents Jabez and Elizabeth Abraham. Jay’s father was the headteacher at Hemmant State School where young Jay completed his education. Jabez Abraham was a well respected man in the community, being a captain in the colonial militia and a prominent member of the Masonic Lodge. Jay’s father died suddenly in 1908 while Jay and his brothers were working on the family farm “beyond Ipswich.” Elizabeth Abraham, following her husband’s death, remarried. Her new husband, Mr Cooke was a headteacher also and a widower.
 
When Jay presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 19th August 1915, he and at least one of his brothers were farming at Mannuem Creek near Kumbia. Jay stated his occupation as farmer and age 22 years, although his mother when completing the Roll of Honour Circular stated that Jay had also trained as a surveyor’s assistant. Jay named his mother, Elizabeth Cooke who was by that stage living at the Eumundi State School headteacher’s residence, as his next of kin.
 
Upon arrival at Bell’s Paddock Camp at Enoggera, Jay was allocated to the 10th reinforcements of the 15thBattalion. The reinforcements departed Brisbane on the “Warilda” on 5th October. While the “Warilda” was still at sea, the two divisions of the AIF which had been engaged in the Gallipoli campaign were evacuated back to Egypt. When the “Warilda” docked at Aden, the reinforcements were marched into the staging camps at Zeitoun. On 5th February, Jay was finally taken on by the 15th Battalion but a month later was reallocated to the newly formed 47th Battalion which had been created by splitting the 15th to create two experienced cores of Gallipoli veterans that would form the basis of a reconstituted 15th Battalion and the new 47th, part of the 12th Brigade of the 4th Division AIF.
 
During March, April and May 1916, various brigades of the expanded AIF left the camps in Egypt for France and the western front. Since its inception, the 47th was suffered from ineffective leadership and disciplinary problems. While stationed on the Suez Canal, some men of the 47th insulted the Prince of Wales during an inspection by counting him out like a boxing referee. The 47th was one of the last battalions to sail for France, leaving Alexandria on 2nd June 1917. During the voyage, a number of officers took advantage of liquor being available on credit and when the ship docked at Marseilles, Company Sergeant Major Koch was so inebriated that he had to be carried ashore. He was eventually dismissed. Ill-discipline continued within the battalion when the first pay was issued in France.
 
On 1st July 1916, General Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Forces in France and Belgium launched his big push with the opening of the Battle of the Somme. The battalions of Kitchener’s new army, mostly conscripts, suffered appalling losses; 60,000 casualties on the first day of whom 20,000 were killed. The gains of the offensive were minimal but Haig was committed to pushing on. By the middle of July, three of the four Australian divisions in France and Belgium were moved south to the Somme where they would be thrust against the might of the German Armies. The primary objective was the high ridge on which nestled the village of Pozieres. The 1st Australian Division successfully took the village on the 24th July. The 2ndDivision followed up over the next week finally capturing two lines of trenches and a blockhouse on the crest of the ridge above the village. Both the 1st and 2nd Divisions had been badly mauled and it then fell to the battalions of the 4th Division, which included the 47th to hold the newly won positions in the face of withering machine gun and artillery fire. On 12th August 1916, while his company was being pounded in the frontline, Jay Abraham sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported via the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station to the Saint John’s Ambulance Hospital at Etaples where he died of his wounds and a tetanus infection.
 
Jay was buried at the Etaples Military Cemetery. His mother in Eumundi received his identity disc, letters, photos. A knife and a piece of shell casing. When permanent headstones were being erected, his mother chose the following inscription:
 
GOD IS LOVE AND UNDERNEATH ARE THE EVERLASTING ARMS.
 
A memorial tree was planted in Kumbia to commemorate Jay Abraham.