100 Days of Heroes: Hobart mother’s love for her adopted soldier son

ONE month short of his 21st birthday, James Ware still needed parental permission when he enlisted at Claremont in August 1915.

James George Frederick Ware is commemorated at tree 371 on the Soldiers' Memorial Avenue in Hobart. Picture: LEANDA BALMFORTH

ONE month short of his 21st birthday, Sydney-born James Ware still needed parental permission when he enlisted at Claremont in August 1915.

Aged 20 years and 11 months, the young gardener provided a declaration from his adoptive mother which noted that his father was dead.

George and May Ware had been married for nearly 20 years when they adopted their son at about two weeks of age and arranged for him to be baptised in the Church of England.

James attended the Battery Point State School and later served as a volunteer in the local militia.

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He left Australia with his battalion in November 1915 and was admitted to hospital for the removal of most of his teeth soon after arriving in Egypt in January 1916.

His battalion was transferred to France in June 1916 and he was wounded in action on August 12, resulting in him being admitted to hospital with exhaustion and shell shock.

James was soon transferred to the 1st Convalescent Depot at Boulogne, where he spent the next month.

After being discharged from hospital he underwent training with the machinegun school in Etaples and was later posted to a machinegun unit.

On April 11, 1917, he was wounded in action for a second time, injured in the abdomen. James was transferred to a casualty clearing station where he died of shrapnel wounds the following day.

He was buried in the Bapaume Australian Cemetery in France.

Private James Ware’s plaque on the Soldiers' Memorial Avenue in Hobart.

Following confirmation that she was his nearest relative, James’ personal effects were returned to May at her home at 27 Quayle St, Sandy Bay, although she later gave her address as 125 Main Rd, New Town and then the Mount Pleasant Bungalow, Rose Bay.

May wrote a number of letters and notes to the army about her much loved adopted son. In response to receiving a memorial scroll and king’s message in 1921 she sent a note “thanking our Good King for all his kindness.”

In 1923 she acknowledged receipt of her son’s Victory Medal and said: “I wish he had lived to wear it. I will treasure it for his sake.”

Private James George Frederick Ware is remembered at tree 371 on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue and the Hobart Town Hall honour boards.