Booklet Number 60 JAMES SHAW ROSE MACDONALD 1894 1917 This booklet remains the property of Saint Andrew s Uniting Church. Please see a Guide if you would like a copy.
2 Saint Andrew s Uniting Church Corner Ann and Creek Streets Brisbane QLD 4000 2015
Captain John Shaw Rose Macdonald James Shaw Rose Macdonald was the second son of Alexander Rose Macdonald and Nancy (née Armitage). He was born on 8 November 1894 at Herberton, North Queensland where his father was police magistrate, assistant land agent and visiting justice for the police gaol. The Macdonald family later moved to Hill View, Greenslopes, Coorparoo. Mr and Mrs Macdonald were communicant members of Saint Andrew s Presbyterian Church, Brisbane. James attended Bowen House School for four years then Brisbane Grammar School from 1909 to December 1910. Before enlisting in the Australian Military Forces, James Macdonald was a Clerk in the Brisbane branch of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney and had completed 3 years voluntary service in Senior Cadets and 5 years in an Australian Field Artillery unit. He was appointed 2 nd Lieutenant in the AIF on 1 May 1915 and embarked aboard Royal Mail Steamer Persia from Melbourne on 10 August, bound for Egypt (From Clydebuilt Ships Database) The RMS Persia weighed 7,974 tons with an average cruise speed of 33.33 kmph. It was owned by the P & O SN Co, London. It was torpedoed and sunk on 30 December 1915. Royal Mail Steamers were contracted to carry the mail between Australia and Britain. On occasion, parts of the ship were booked by the AIF to carry troops and cargo. 3
Second Lieutenant Macdonald joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli and survived. After evacuation from the peninsula, he returned to Egypt where he spent the final weeks of the year 1915 in the Helonan Australian General Hospital, Cairo for treatment of jaundice. In March 1916, Macdonald proceeded to join the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium. He was transferred to 22 nd Battery 1 st Division Australian Field Artillery and promoted Lieutenant. Lieutenant Macdonald was engaged at the First Battle of the Somme, taking charge of his battery when his Commanding Officer was disabled by wounds at Flers. He was promoted Captain on 1 January 1917 and transferred to 6 th Battery. He was engaged at Bapaume and Bullecourt. At the Third Battle of Ypres when bringing his battery into position under fire, Captain Macdonald was killed by a bursting shell. The Officer-in-Charge of 6 th Battery stated, This Officer was killed by shell fire on 31 July 1917 near Sanctuary Wood and buried at Reninghalst Cemetery. Death was instantaneous. I have no further particulars. James Macdonald s grave was later moved to the Dickebusch New Military Cemetery Extension near Ypres in Belgium. On a brass plaque in the main banking chamber of the former Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Head Office in Sydney, New South Wales, the name of JSR Macdonald is embossed with the names of other bank staff who served their King and Country in the Great War. 4
Mr HH Massie, General Manager of the CBC of Sydney Bank stated in the preface of a memorial record, Many, alas! of those who went away made the supreme sacrifice, and of them it can assuredly be said that their names will not only be graven on the Honour Board, but in the hearts of their fellow Bank Officers, and the memory of them will ever be recorded with loving and grateful remembrance in the annals of the Bank. 1 Select Bibliography National Archives of Australia, military records, World War 1 Crombie AC, Macdonald, Alexander Rose (1845-1931, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974 Queensland Register of Births First World War Embarkation Rolls Archives, Brisbane Grammar School, The Golden Book Australian War Memorial, Roll of Honour Commonwealth War Graves Commission Archives, Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited Archives, Saint Andrew s Uniting Church, Brisbane, Saint Andrew s Presbyterian Church Annual Reports 1901 1925 Compiled by Noel E Adsett, Brisbane May 2015 1. A Memorial Record of those members of the Staff of The Commercial Banking of Sydney Limited who served their King and Country in the Great War 1914-18, June 1922, page 3 5
In Memory of Captain JAMES SHAW ROSE MACDONALD 2nd Bde., Australian Field Artillery who died age 22 on 31 July 1917 Son of Alexander Rose Macdonald and Nancy Macdonald, of Hill View, Greenslopes, Brisbane, Queensland. Remembered with honour DICKEBUSCH NEW MILITARY CEMETERY EXTENSION 6
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