Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Francis James-Wallace, Frank, was born on the 8th November 1877 at the family property “Killarney Station” near St Lawrence, halfway between Mackay and Rockhampton in Queensland. His Irish father John and German mother Amalie, known as Marie, were the parents of 8 children in all but one died in infancy. Frank was the eldest with 5 younger sisters and 1 younger brother. There was also an older half-brother, William, born in 1865 to John and his first wife Jane who died in 1870.

“Killarney” was in a remote area so a school house was built on the property and the children were educated there by a governess. Tony’s father died at the family property in February 1901 aged 65.

When the war broke out in South Africa in 1899 between the British troops and the Boer settlers, Frank volunteered for the Queensland Mounted Infantry. It consisted of 11 Companies. Frank was part of the 3rd Queensland Contingent, his rank was Private and his service number was 223. The 3rd Queensland Contingent had a strength of 316 men and under the command of Major W H Tunbridge. Between the start of the war on the 11th October 1899 and the end of it on the 31st May 1902, over 10,000 Australian men sailed for South Africa to support the British troops.

The 3rd Queensland Contingent embarked from Brisbane on the 1st March 1900 on the SS Duke of Portland and arrived at Cape Town on the 2nd April. They then proceeded to Beira where they disembarked. From here they were transported by train the 350 miles to Marandellas in Rhodesia arriving there on the 20th April. The next leg of the train journey was to Ootsie, a town just north of Mafeking where they arrived on the 11th May. They marched the final 80 miles to General Plumer’s Column. As part of the “Busman’s Brigade” in Colonel Plumer’s Column, 3 days later they assisted in the relief at Mafeking, west of Pretoria, where the town had been under siege for 217 days. The Brigade subsequently served in General Carrington’s Column and were involved in operations in Transvaal, east of Pretoria.

On the 22nd July the Queenslanders came under heavy fire for 6½ hours at the engagement at Koster River. Being in the lead, they bore the brunt of the fire and suffered casualties of 6 dead and 22 wounded.

As part of General Baden-Powell’s Column, in early August they were involved in the defence at Elands River with a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 Boers against a garrison of 500 Australian, Rhodesian, Canadian and British soldiers which was stationed there to protect a British supply dump that had been established along the route between Mafeking and Pretoria. The Boers were in desperate need of supplies so they attacked the garrison. The attack lasted 13 days and the dump was heavily shelled. Although being surrounded and outnumbered the garrison held their position until relief arrived.

In September 1900, Frank was granted a commission in the British Army and promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. When the war ended on the 31st May 1902 he was appointed to serve in the King’s African Rifles in Uganda. He contracted malaria but instead of returning to Australia, he was returned to the ‘old country’ where he joined the 2nd Battalion Prince of Wales Own Regiment (West Yorkshire) Regiment, who were stationed at Holywood, Belfast, Ireland. He fell ill again with a second attack of malaria and died at the Officers’ Quarters, Palace Barracks, Holywood, on the 20th April 1906 aged 28.

His funeral was held at Victoria Barracks in Belfast. The coffin, which rested upon a gun carriage drawn by six horses, was covered with the British flag, six of his brother Officers acting as pall bearers. Funeral marches were played by the band on the 6.6 miles journey from Victoria Barracks to the Holywood Cemetery. The Rev. Mervyn Archibald, one of the military Chaplains conducted the service, and after the coffin had been lowered into its final resting-place the usual three volleys were fired over the grave. Amongst those who sent wreaths were Colonel Watts, Commander of the West Yorkshire Regiment, the Non-commissioned Officers and the band of the same Regiment.

Three of Frank’s siblings went on to serve in WW1. His brother John Anthony, known as Tony, enlisted in the AIF in early July 1916 and served with the 41st Battalion. He was awarded the Military Medal in February 1918. Frank’s two sisters Florence and Emily both served with the Australian Army Nursing Service. Florence was one of the first group of nurses to serve with the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Lemnos Island under the leadership of Matron Grace Wilson. She went on to serve in France and England. Emily served in India and then England and all three siblings were safely returned to Australia.

Between 16,000 and 21,000 men volunteered for service in the Boer War and between 500 and 1,000 made the supreme sacrifice.

Francis James-Wallace was awarded for service in the Boer War The Queen’s South Africa Medal and The King’s South Africa Medal.

Respectfully submitted by Sue Smith 15th September 2021

Resources https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article71974906.txtn

https://www.bwm.org.au/contingents.php

https://www.bwm.org.au/units/Queensland_Mounted_Infantry.php

https://www.samilitaryhistory.org/jnl2/vol182ws.html