Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Date of Discharge

18/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

07/08/1895

Place of Birth

Braidwood NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Austin Chapman MHR (father), Braidwood NSW

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

14 Brigade Headquarters AIF

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 15 September 1919)
Mentioned in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.124 of 30 October 1919)

Jim Chapman was the son of Austin Chapman (after whom the suburb of Chapman in Weston Creek is named) who represented the Canberra district in the Federal Parliament as the member for Eden-Monaro prior to the creation of the ACT, and the older brother of John Austin Chapman. He entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in March 1913 and graduated on 28 June 1915 after which he enlisted as a Lieutenant with the 30th Battalion. He arrived in Egypt in December 1915 and in France in June 1916 and was promoted to Captain shortly afterwards. For most of the next year Chapman served as Adjutant in his battalion during which time the 30th Battalion fought at Flers and Bullecourt in France and Polygon Wood in Belgium where he was slightly wounded by shrapnel. He was detached to the British Army as a Staff trainee in early 1918 and served in staff positions for most of the year before being appointed as temporary Brigade Major for the 14th Brigade in January 1919. He was Mentioned in Despatches and appointed to the Order of the British Empire (Military) in 1919 for his work near Peronne and the Hindenburg Line in late 1918. Chapman served in World War 2 and became a member of the Repatriation Commission after retiring in 1947. He died in Victoria on 9 November 1967 at 72 years of age.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Alexander J. McGilvray, 'The Hallowed High Adventure', 1973 (p.66)
Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://www.adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chapman-john-austin-9727/text17177, published in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 23 April 2014
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM collections record : P04014.001, 051560
Queanbeyan Age - 20 October 1914, 9 November 1915, 11 August 1916, 29 September 1916, 13 February 1917, 19 October 1917