100 Days of Heroes: Sickness struck as soldier James Fisher sailed to war

SOME of those who volunteered for service in World War I would die before they reached the fighting on the other side of the world.

Private James Fisher is remembered at tree 52 on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue.

AMONG the many harsh realities of World War I, it was a sad fact that some of those who volunteered for service would die before they reached the fighting on the other side of the world.

James Fisher was born in November 1898, the youngest of William and Ellen Fisher’s eight children.

After leaving school he secured an apprenticeship as a bricklayer with Stabb Brothers and later as a carpenter with builder James McKenzie.

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Logo for 100 days of heroes in the Mercury newspaperhundred days of heroes

He enlisted at Claremont in June 1915, aged 18, but sickness prevented him from joining his first transport overseas.

It was not uncommon for soldiers to fall ill in camp, and even die in hospital, before leaving Tasmania.

Further, a small number did not survive the journey to war on crowded troopships. James Fisher was one of them, and died of pneumonia at sea aboard SS Makatini.

Over the years many soldiers were buried at sea while the troopships travelled on to their destinations in the Middle East or Europe.

James died on October 7, 1915 and was buried in the British Burial Ground at Suez. His remains were later moved to the Suez War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.

Private James Clarke Fisher is remembered at tree 52 on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue and on the Hobart Town Hall honour board.

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Private James Fisher’s plaque on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue.