James McArthur STEWART

James Stewart was born on 10 March 1891 in Ascot Vale, Victoria. His parents were Evan and Isabella (née McArthur) Stewart. He attended Scotch from 1905 to 1907.

James was a clerk at The Argus offices when he enlisted on 27 January 1916 at Melbourne. He served in the 57th Battalion with the rank of Private. His Regimental Number was 5210.

James died on 3 April 1917 at Morchies, France. He was 26 years of age.

Service record

James’s enlistment paper shows that prior to his successful enlistment in January 1916 he had been rejected as unfit for service due to bad teeth. It seems he had been enlisted and discharged earlier: his enlistment paper has a cryptic reference to ‘RQMS 12th Battalion AIF 47 days’. In March 1916 he was allotted to reinforcements for the 5th Battalion and in May 1916 seems to have joined that unit at Tel el Kebir in Egypt.

His service record suggests that he was alternately then in 57th, 5th, 58th and then 57th Battalions! He arrived in France in late June as a member of 57th Battalion. He was sent to hospital with influenza in September 1916 for nearly four weeks. In July he joined the 58th Battalion, and in doing so lost his acting Lance Corporal status and was reverted to Private. In October he again joined the 57th Battalion, his final destination. In December he went sick to hospital for another 19 days with trench feet. He spent most of January and February 1917 at a School of Instruction in Montonvillers, France.

On 3 April 1917 James was killed in action. He died near the sunken road at Morchies, as did fellow Old Scotchie Ralph Pearson. Neither man has an identifiable grave. Stewart’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file contains several eyewitness accounts of his death. One, by Lieutenant Ralph Langley, says that James was sitting in a German dugout that was hit by a German high explosive shell. James, he said, was hit chiefly about the legs and body, and was buried some 10 yards away (see below).

Private Kenneth Wylie gave extra information: that just before the fatal explosion James was very excited about the fact that he was to leave next day for an officer training school in England (see below). Lieutenant William Kennedy-Smith did not see James killed, but was able to tell something of the circumstances. He went and saw the body of the friend from Scotch days (see below)

James Stewart has no known grave but is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France.

Photographs and Documents:

Lieutenant Langley’s account. From James Stewart’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file.

Private Wylie’s account. From James Stewart’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file.

Sources:

1. Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour and Red Cross Wounded and Missing file
2. Mishura Scotch Database
3. National Archives of Australia – B2455, STEWART J M
4. Scotch Collegian 1917 (photograph only)
5. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=288720