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Of Tragedy and Valor
James Leonard Franklin
1890 - 1915 (Killed in Action)
Descendants of Mahalia Bolger (Weymouth)
James Leonard Franklin was born out of wedlock on 27 September 1890. He was the illegitimate son of Leonard Bolger (1871 - 1953) & Sarah Ann Franklin.
According to records, Sarah Ann Franklin was listed as destitute and not able to care for her baby. In 1891 James was taken into care at 10 months by the State Children's Department under informant T.H. Atkinson.
Later, James was fostered by Mrs Macklin on Darlington until the age of 14.
Mrs Macklin was described a good and faithful foster mother who raised her children as a family. The same report from the Children's Department stated that his birth mother Sarah Ann Franklin never made contact.
James enlisted for the AIF on 14/09/1914 and first saw action in Gallipoli. He was killed in action at the age of 25 on the 02/05/1915.
Mrs Macklin made several attempts to retrieve James personal effects but they were never retrieved.
Private / Corporal James Leonard Franklin
Private / Corporal James Leonard Franklin
Service number: 1036
Birth Place: South Australia, Adelaide
Death Date: 1915-05-02
Death Place: Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Marmara, Gallipoli Peninsula
Final Rank: Private / Corporal
Service: Australian Imperial Force
Unit: 16th Australian Infantry Battalion
Places Served
Conflict/Operation: First World War, 1914-1918
Early battles for the Anzacs on Gallipoli 1915
Early battles for the Anzacs on Gallipoli 1915
On 25 April 1915, 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders, together with British, French and Indian troops, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula.
On the night of May 2, 1915, during the Gallipoli Campaign, New Zealand and Australian forces, supported by the Royal Naval Division, launched an unsuccessful attack on Baby 700, a strategic hill on the way to Chunuk Bair.
The attack involved the Australians advancing from Quinn's Post and the New Zealanders from Monash Gully, aiming to secure the slopes of Baby 700. However, the assault was poorly coordinated, with the New Zealanders delayed in their advance, and the ensuing fire from Ottoman forces resulted in heavy casualties and no ground gained.
It is documented that James Leonard Franklin was killed in action on the 2nd May, 7 days after the first ANZACS landed at the cove.
Shortly after dawn, the 16th was forced from its newly won trenches. The battalion landed at Gallipoli with more than 1000 men. After 9 days of continuous fighting, only 309 remained.
Official historian, Charles Bean, eventually estimated the loss to the Anzac Corps during this period as 8364 killed, wounded and missing.
The scene in front of the Australian lines at Johnston's Jolly and along Second Ridge on the morning of 24 May 1915, the day of the truce to bury the dead of the failed Turkish attack of 19 May. AWM H16397
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