Lawn, James Richard
3564 Private James Richard Lawn - 4th Pioneer Battalion & Australian Army Medical Corps
James was born in 1860 in Great Yarmouth Norfolk England to James and Susannah Lawn, and had two siblings in Eleanor 1865 and Henry 1871.
The family moved to Nottinghamshire for a short period in the 1870's but then returned to Great Yarmouth Norfolk. They were listed here in the 1881 English census
James was married at Gloucester England on the 24th July 1886 to Kate Hughes Beazer. They had the following children, with, Kathleen born 1889, James 1891 and Frederick 1896.
The 1891 census has the family living at Great Bolton Lancashire and James was working as a drapers assistant. They family then moved again as the 1901 census has them living at Leicester with James working as a storehouse man.
In 1903 the family moved to Western Australia. They initially lived at Perth and Canning before moving to Fremantle where they took up residence at Marine Terrace.
Despite being 55 years old when he enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force on the 28th September 1915, he was accepted as fit for service. James also stated that he had previous service with the East Yorkshire Regiment while in England. The medical examiner recorded James's physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 6 inches tall;
Weight - 145lbs;
Chest Measurement - 33-36 inches;
Complexion - Ruddy;
Eyes - Brown;
Hair - Grey.
Upon his successful enlistment, James was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was assigned to the depot training company. He spent a few weeks here being taken through the basics of infantry work and was then transferred into the 8th Reinforcements to the 28th battalion AIF. He would train with this group in WA for a few months.
On the 17th January 1916 James and his reinforcements group entrained to Fremantle harbour where they boarded the transport ship HMAT Borda. The ship then set sail for Egypt, arriving there in February 1916.
By the time he had arrived in Egypt, the 28th Battalion was already at it's full capacity and on the 3rd March 1916 James was sent to the 51st battalion AIF. He spent two weeks with this unit and then transferred to the 4th Pioneer Battalion. He trained with his unit in Egypt for the next few months.
James trained with the 4th Pioneer Battalion in Egypt till the end of May 1916 as on the 4th June 1916, they boarded their transport ship in Alexandria and sailed for France. Arriving at Marseilles on the 11th June 1916, James and his unit were put onto trains and were sent north to the region of Fleurbaix, south of Armentieres. They stayed here till July 1916, when they were sent south to the Somme.
James was involved in the actions at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in August 1916 where they attempted to keep open the communication trenches amidst the heavy shellfire. He survived the Somme battles unscathed and saw out the rest of 1916. The 4th Pioneer Battalion spent the 1916/17 French Winter in the vicinity of Flers in horrendous muddy conditions which made their tasks or road and trench building a very difficult task.
On the 19th December 1916 James was evacuated ill to the 9th General hospital at Rouen where he was diagnosed with bronchitis. After a week he was sent to England where he remained in hospital for the next few months. While he was in hospital his son James who had come over with the 11th Battalion reinforcements had fallen ill and sadly died on the 1st February 1917.
On the 16th March 1917 James was then sent to No.2 Command Depot Camp at Weymouth.
James's health had been assessed as not good enough to return to the Western Front, but he was retained in England for further work and was transferred to the Australian Army Medical Corps. He would be based at Montevideo Camp Hospital at Weymouth from 1917 through to 1919.
On the 3rd September 1919 James boarded the transport ship Barambah and set sail for home, arriving at Fremantle on the 17th October 1919. James was then discharged from the AIF on the 31st January 1920.
After returned home James took up residence at 10 Norfolk St Fremantle and resumed work as a Draper. He lived here through the 1920's but then moved to the hills at Bickley.
James died on the 28th August 1942 in WA. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery plot Seventh Day Adventist BA 0005.