Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/04/1916

Date of Discharge

30/05/1931

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

04/03/1883

Place of Birth

Hobart, Tasmania

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

The Hutchins School (Hobart), Guildford Grammar School (Perth)

Occupation

Soldier

Final Rank

Lieutenant Colonel

Final Unit

3 Field Artillery Brigade AIF

Distinguished Service Order (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 2 May 1918, page 1864)
Mentioned in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 24 October 1918, page 2055)

After finishing school James worked as a clerk at the Union Bank of Australia in Kalgoorlie before joining the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery in NSW in 1906. He was appointed as the first Adjutant at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in February 1911 and was the last of the military staff at the college to be released for war service. In September 1915 he took charge of the coffin of Sir William Bridges during the former RMC commandant's funeral in Canberra. James was commissioned as a Major with command of a battery in the 7th Field Artillery Brigade in April 1916. He was wounded in action in July 1917 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in May and June 1917 in the lead up to the Battle of Messines. While under heavy shell fire, James moved his gun crew to safety and extinguished a fire in the gun pit. On 1 April 1918 he was appointed as Commanding Officer, 7th Field Artillery Brigade with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and he received a mention in despatches on 7 April 1918. A few weeks later he was badly gassed and after recovering he was appointed as Commanding Officer, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade. After he returned to Australia he served in various postings around Australia before retiring from the army in May 1931. In 1939 James sailed for England where he died on 15 September 1939 from chronic asthma and emphysema in Bolingbroke Hospital, London. There is no service file for James at the National Archives.

Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm (entry for Tristram James viewed 3/11/2013)
Jennifer Horsfield, 'Mary Cunningham: An Australian Life', 2004 (p. 97)
Queanbeyan Age - 4 August 1914
Queanbeyan Observer - 6 September 1915
The Duntroon Society Newsletter 1/1993, 2/2011
AWM Honours & Awards