Cousins, James Alfred (4521)
Place of Birth: Goldsborough, VIC
Age: 26 years 6 months
Enlistment Details: Tuesday, 10 October 1916 – Melbourne, VIC
Service Number: 4521 view online service record
Address:
Railway Crescent
Maryborough, VIC
Next of Kin:
Elizabeth Cousins (wife)
Railway Crescent
Maryborough, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Saturday, 16 December 1916
Ship: HMAT Medic A7
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 29th Infantry Battalion – 12th Reinforcements
Fate:
KIA: Saturday, 29 September 1917
Place: Belgium
Address at Embarkation: 126 Bridge Street, Port Melbourne
Private, 46 Infantry, killed in action 29 September, 1917, Belgium, aged 29, Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.
Wife: Mrs Elizabeth COUSINS, born Goldsborough, educated SS. He enlisted as a 26-year-old railway worker, he and his wife’s address given as Maryborough, although she was later shown at 126 Bridge Street, Port Melbourne. The local connection appears to have been brief, the Maryborough and Dunolly Times expressed their sympathy to Mrs Cousins at the time of her husband’s death. She returned the circular from Richmond, Maryborough shown as her late husband’s closest place of association.
Additional research by Brian Membrey
1 Comments
Brian Membrey
“I saw a chap called Cousins belonging to C Coy. whom I knew quite well killed by a shell outright when we were holding a front line trench on Sept. 29th on Anzac Ridge, Ypres, He was about 100 yards away from me. The Germans were shelling us hard all the time and we had to keep well down or I would have got along to him. I don’t know about his being buried. I tried to find out afterwards, but couldn’t find anybody who knew anything. There was not much chance of burying him while the shelling was so heavy. I am not certain about his Christian name, but his number was 4521 and I remember he was a fireman, he told me, at home in Australia. We were in the same draft and came out together … medium size, about 30-35 years, I should think, fair hair, medium height” (Pte, A Backland, 46th A.I.F)