Kelly, James Henry
No.2692 – L/Cpl James Henry Kelly – 51st Battalion AIF
James Henry Kelly was born in Leederville WA in 1896 to James and Amy Kelly. The family soon moved to Holland Street Fremantle, with James attending the nearby Fremantle State School. During this time James served in the Fremantle Cadets, but after leaving school he left Fremantle to work on a farm near Northam. He then transferred his cadet service to the 85B Northam Citizen Military Forces. With his older brother Thomas enlisting in the AIF in March 1915, James wanted to follow suit but was rejected due to insufficient chest measurement. In August 1915 news came through that Thomas had been killed on Gallipoli, so James attempted to enlist again and this time was successful.
On the 17th August 1915 James, aged 19, enlisted at Swan Barracks in Perth. He was found to be 5 feet 7 ½ inches tall, weight of 129 lbs; chest measurement of 31-34 inches; medium complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. His religious denomination was Roman Catholic. James was assigned to the 6th Reinforcements to the 28th Battalion AIF. He trained with this group in WA for the next few months awaiting their orders to depart. These orders finally came through and on the 2nd November 1915 James boarded the H.M.A.T. “Ulysses” in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for Egypt.
After arriving at Suez four weeks later, the men were disembarked and sent to the 7th Training Battalion. They would have been expecting to be sent on to Gallipoli but as the Dardanelles were being evacuated in December, the men of James’s reinforcement group were kept in Egypt. James remained at the 7th Training Battalion until the 3rd March 1916. He did not end up joining the 28th Battalion but was instead transferred to the 51st Battalion. He joined his new unit at Tel-el-Kebir camp and trained with them in Egypt for the next three months. They finally left Egypt on the 5th June 1916 when they boarded the H.M.T. “Ivernia” in Alexandria and set sail for France, arriving at Marseilles on the 12th June 1916.
After their arrival the 51st Battalion were marched through Marseilles to the Railway Station where they boarded trains which took them to Northern France. They arrived near Fleurbaix in late June 1916 and it was in this sector that they had their first taste of Western Front trench life. They only had a few weeks here and in mid July were sent south towards the Somme battlefield. The 1st and 2nd Divisions had preceded them and soon became involved in the advance near Pozieres. The 4th Division came into the line on August 5th and proceeded to try and further the gains already made. The 51st Battalion took part in an assault on Mouquet Farm with the 13th Battalion, but the attack was a failure. James was promoted to Lance Corporal a few days later.
After a fortnight out of the line the 51st Battalion returned to action on the 3rd September 1916 when they attempted to capture Mouquet Farm. Despite occupying a portion of the farm the Germans had the area honeycombed with dugouts and tunnels and were able to surround the two companies of the 51st that had advanced into the Farm. Nearly two companies of the 51st Battalion were either killed or captured. James was initially reported as Missing but this was later changed to being killed in action.
In October 1916 after the British had captured Mouquet Farm a dismounted party from the 3rd Cavalry Division found James’s body and gave him a burial. After the war his grave was exhumed and he was reburied at Ovillers Military Cemetery France in plot XVI.V.1.
With Thomas killed at Gallipoli, only Ernest Kelly would be returning home. He served in the 51st Battalion also and was wounded in September 1916. In January 1917 he transferred to the Railway Corps, was wounded on 3rd October 1917 and returned to WA in 1919.