1st Australian Horse, Lieutenant
Born at Bega in 1878, the son of Pat Hill and Elizabeth Jane (née Atkinson) Osborne. He was educated at Rugby College in England. He married Maud Jeffries, an American actress, on 25 October 1904 at St Paul’s Church at Papanau in New Zealand and lived at his parents’ property ’Currandooley’, near Bungendore, as a grazier and horse breeder.
Osborne was commissioned into the 1st Australian Horse on 1 January 1898, when he joined a contingent of the unit raised at Bungendore by his father, Pat Hill Osborne.
The unit’s first Easter camp was held at ‘Currandooley’, the nearby Osborne property, where Pat Osborne provided free rations, transport and forage. He also entertained the officers, including his son James, to dinner.
During the Boer War, the Australian Horse provided two contingents, in 1899 and 1900. Osborne served as second in command with the First Contingent, arriving in Cape Town on 13 December 1899.
Shortly after arriving in South Africa, James received a commission to the 16th Lancers on 5 February 1900 and served with them. He was later attached to General French’s headquarters.
He was present at the Relief of Kimberley and while there, left the Australian Horse and took up a commission with the British 16th Lancers. He was closely involved in the surrender of Bloemfontein. Osborne took part in operations in Orange Free State and Transvaal between January 1900 and November 1900 he also saw action at Reit River, Klip Drift, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Dreifontein, Karee Siding, Belfast and Slingersfontein.
He was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with five clasps.
The Queanbeyan Age of 4 July 1900 reported that he had been suffering from enteric fever in the Bloemfontein hospital and had been given three months’ leave in England. In August 1901, he was back at home visiting his parents at ’Currandooley’, having just been appointed as the aide-de-camp to Lord Ranfurley the Governor of New Zealand.
Osborne eventually returned to Australia and took up the family property ‘Bowylie’, at Gundaroo, NSW. He died in 1934.
See also: BUNGENDORE & DISTRICT WAR MEMORIAL SOUTH AFRICAN (BOER) WAR 1899-1902 ROLL OF HONOUR ISBN: 978-0-646-55612-3 Peter John Hugonnet 2011
