The AIF Project

James Lowther MASON

Regimental number470
Place of birthChristchurch, New Zealand
SchoolPublic School, New Zealand
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
Address22 Bunn Street, Pyrmont, Sydney, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation42
Height5' 7"
Weight146 lbs
Next of kinBrother, John Mason, Clevedon, Auckland, New Zealand
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date13 July 1915
Place of enlistmentBrisbane, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name31st Battalion, B Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/48/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A62 Wandilla on 9 November 1915
Two ships left from Melbourne carrying the 31st Battalion Headquarters and Companies A, B, C and D: HMAT A62, 'Wandilla', on 9 November 1915 and HMAT A41, 'Bakara', on 5 November 1915. It is not possible from the Embarkation Roll to determine on which ship an individual embarked.
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A41 Bakara on 5 November 1915
Two ships left from Melbourne carrying the 31st Battalion Headquarters and Companies A, B, C and D: HMAT A62, 'Wandilla', on 9 November 1915 and HMAT A41, 'Bakara', on 5 November 1915. It is not possible from the Embarkation Roll to determine on which ship an individual embarked.
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll31st Battalion
FateDied whilst a Prisoner of War 19 July 1916
Place of death or woundingFrance
Age at death from cemetery records43
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
119
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: John and Margaret MASON
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Melbourne, 9 November 1915; disembarked Suez, 7 December 1915.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916.

Reported missing, 19 July 1916.

Note on Form B103: 'Died whilst Prisoner of War in Germany'.

Note on file, 14 March 1917: 'Reported buried.'

German note on file: 'austr. sold. Mason, J.L. vom 31. austr. Bn. am 19.7 in Gegend Fromelles gefallen.'

Note on Red Cross File No 1730406: 'Central Office for Lost Property, Berlin, report:- Location and number of grave not known. Chief Army Command 6, and Chief Medical Register, Munich, both report:- Nothing known.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, MASON James Lowther
Red Cross file 1730406

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