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Hello everyone I have a James Joseph Riley 1875 Oct qu 10b 34. Father John Riley. My query is: I found a James Joseph Riley in the Australian Imperial Force( Army medical corps) he signed up on the 9th May 1917, on the paperwork it states he was born Newcastle England( which mines was) and his age on the paper is 32 9months and his next of kin was his father John Riley, living in Fremantle, cant read the address though...Swan something something Fremantle WA. My confusion now is that the birth year for him now is 1885 which says he isnt my man BUT when i have searched the birth index for Newcastle England 1885+1886 there are no James Joseph Riley's. So to me this is my James. In the 1891 cencus James is down as a Doctors page so this too fits in with him being in the medical corps. Could anyone shed some light on this for me PLEASE? Many thanks Kaz

Hi Kaz While it was more usual to increase your age to enlist for WW1, there's nothing to say he might not have decreased his age !! just so he could enlist. I know for WW2 my grandfather was most annoyed they considered him too old to go overseas at 40. I think his fathers address is Swan St North Fremantle. His address is 20 Birrell St Waverely, and was a waiter and Roman Catholic. Did you see the note on the last page 'died 12th Jun 1952' I think the NSW BDM indexes show him to be 76yrs and died at Randwick (There's a hospital there and its near Waverley). Which fits with your dates. There's a james J Riley who married in 1919 at Paddington. You could get a transcript of the death cert. and see if its the same one. Does this help ? Di

My great grandfather lied about his age when he joined the navy,giving date of birth as 1 Dec 1859. His birth cert says 1860.

Kaz, have you had an Aussie death cert before? They have heaps of info if the informant was aware of it. Ozi.

Hi Di, thank you for your reply..so thats what the address is? thanks..i did see the death and i also saw the marriage too,it says he is a waiter yes, that refers to James though ah and not his father? The address is that James or John? My mum has told me that they were Roman Catholics as when her parents Dora and Thomas(James brother) married Dora's father was not happy and didnt attend the wedding as she was church of England and didnt think it right she married a Catholic, Dora(my gran) turned after meeting Thomas.I just cant decide if this is my James or not..Kaz

Hi Wendy, thank you for your reply, i have heard that some men did lie about their age to get were they wanted to be, my grandfathers brother also done the same to get into the army, i just find it hard to understand with James(if this him) that he could make himself 10years older than what he really was, did they not have to show prove of a birth certificate when they entered into the forces? Kaz

Hi Ozi, thanks for the reply, No i havent had a Aussie death certificate before, do you think it wise to obtain this one for James? I did notice when on the site where i seen the death that you could obtain it for a fee of 25 dollars what ever that is in sterling..Also on the paperwork i found it also gives details of War graves list and the volume page and date, i have been trying to find this but as of yet i havnt been successful..Kaz

Kaz, $25 is just over £10. Depending on the knowledge of the informant you could get his wife & children (if he had any), his parents & their occupations, his age, his occupation, his date & place of birth, how long he'd been in Oz, his address at death, & of course what he died from. Ozi.

Hi Ozi..£10 is ok for a certificate then if your getting all that info ah! Only think that is putting me off though is he is named as James and not James Joseph BUT it states his parents were John and Bridget which my James parents were, also i found a death for a John Riley parents John and Bridget and my James had an older brother John Peter, i did find a marriage in Newcastle England for him though so if the death in Oz is his then him and his wife went to Oz...Hard work finding out the real truth ah? Kind regards Kaz

Hi Joan, wow...so some men did lie and say they were younger than what they were...how did they get away with it? How can you make yourself look 10 years younger, tell me i want to know...lol. It is looking more likely that this guy could be him then. Thanks for that info Kaz

Hi Kaz Instead of an official death certificate, you could get a transcription for $15 aus (about 8 pounds ?). You cannot use it for legal documents, but for research its fine, especially as the professional reads that really difficult handwriting - they have lots of experience at it. Look on the NSW BDM website for the names (there are 3, the one I use is www.marbract). Sometimes people did not always use both their christian names, just their first name - my husband does not like his middle name and won't use it, except for taxation and other official documents. When enlisting, especially for WW1, they did not ask for proof of age, which is why so many underage boys got away with enlisting before they were 18 - if they looked old enough it was not questioned, if they looked really young, the enlisting officer might have asked a question or two, depends how confident they were I guess. I hope this does turn out to be your James Joseph good luck Diane