MERSON James Leslie

Born in Killingworth North (near Newcastle on Tyne), England in 1885, James was one of four sons of the Rev. David Merson and Jessie Margaret Merson ( nee Leslie) who were both native of Scotland. James€™s father died in 1897 and his mother in 1908. In 1908 his occupation was listed as an insurance clerk. For some reason James left England in 1910 to travel to Australia where he had family from his mother€™s side. His brother David had moved there the previous year.

By all accounts James and his brother David were very close to his aunt and uncle Alexander Smith and Martha Elizabeth Leslie and their family, and presumably initially stayed with them in Brisbane on their arrival.

By 1913 David was living in the Nambour area of Queensland where he was registered in the electoral roles. By 1915 he was living in Palmwoods, Queensland where he was listed in the Queensland Directory. His occupation was listed as a €œfarmer€ on his enlistment papers.

James enlisted on the 22nd July 1915 in Brisbane. He stated that he had previous military service with the Northumberland Fusiliers three years prior to leaving England. His enlistment papers state that his height was 5ft 11 ¼ inches, his weight was 164lbs, is complexion was fair, his hair brown and his eyes blue.

Chronicle 29 October 1915 p5, Palmwoods enlistments....Leslie Merson....

James joined the 25th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement and undertook initial basic training at the military camp at Enoggera just north of Brisbane. This training would have been very basic and probably limited only to drill, bayonet training and basic shooting for the intention was that the soldiers would be trained more fully outside of Australia in Egypt. James departed Australia on the 21st October. We do not know when he arrived in Egypt but we do know that on the 31st January 1916 he was admitted into the military hospital at Helouan near Cairo suffering from a hernia. Once recovered from this he was admitted into the 47th Battalion on the 9th March 1916. James would have undertaken more military training in the camp at Tel-el-Kebir throughout the summer months of 1916. However, on the 1st May 1916 James is once again admitted into hospital this time with tonsilitis, but was only in hospital six days and was discharged on the 6th May 1916.

On the 1st June 1916 James and the 47th Battalion embarked on the HMT Caledonia in Alexandria bound for Marseille France where they arrive on the 9th June. The following day the battalion boarded trains and headed north through France and on 4th June arrived at the town of the Outtersteene near Armentieres just south of the Ypres sector with the rest of the 4th Division.

This was a quiet sector that the Australian division had been posted to, and James's battalion's first deployment into the front line trenches was on the 3rd July 1916 near the town of Fleurbaix. According to the Battalion War Diary nothing much happened and his Battalion spent its time primarily on fatigue duties which entailed repairing trenches, repairing roads, carrying ammunition and food to the front line. However all of that was about to change. Further south in the Somme sector the British Army had just launched a massive offensive against the German army on the banks of the River Somme. On the 14th July 1916 the Australian 4th Division was ordered south to assist in this offensive. James€™ battalion arrived on the 15th July at the town of Bertaucourt Les Dames where, until the end of the month, they spent more time training and preparing for entry into the front line. Towards the end of July the Australian Army had taken part in the capture of the town of Pozieres with great loss. On 7th August James€™s battalion moved into the front line very close to the town of Pozieres and actually into the old German front line trenches recently captured. They spent five days on the front line here in what can only have been described as hell on earth. Throughout the five days that James€™s battalion was in the front line they were subjected to massive German artillery bombardment day and night.

On 12th August the 47th Battalion was relieved from the front line and were acting as a reserve line in the Sunken Road trench just behind the town of Pozieres. On 14th August 1916 47th Battalion was withdrawn to an area behind Pozieres where they were held in reserve. In front of Pozieres was the strategically important Mouquet Farm which was held by the Germans. This farm needed to be captured to remove the threat to the Britsh front line but so far the Australians had made many attacks against the farm but had been unable to capture it. Another attack was planned for the beginning of September 1916 and in preparation to that attack the 47th Battalion was sent into the front line trenches near the farm to make preparations (see map: Mouquet Farm map copy.jpg). They were required to extend the front line trenches to allow the attack to take place. At some time during the day on the 31st August 1916 James was killed. Unfortunately the records give no indication of how he was killed but given that he was so close to the front line it's likely that he was either killed by either a gunshot or artillery fire/shrapnel. Unfortunately his body could not be found after the war and as such he has no known resting place.

James received the following service decorations: 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. James is commemorated at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra on panel 114 in the Commemorative Area, at the war memorial in Palmwoods, Queensland and Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France.

Australian War Memorial, Canberra Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Palmwoods War Memorial, Margaret Street, Palmwoods

Palmwoods and District Roll of Honour, Palmwoods Memorial Hall, Margaret Street, Palmwoods

Maroochy Shire Honor Roll, Shire Chambers, Bury Street, Nambour

Nambour (Maroochy Shire) Roll of Honor Scroll, Private Collection, Nambour (this scroll was available for sale to the public after the war)(as LD Merson - combination of the two brothers' initials)

Maroochy Shire War Dead, Quota Park, Matthew Street, Nambour