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James Brendan Lane (Brendan) Mullins (1895–1917)

Late Lieutenant Brendan Lane Mullins.

KILLED AT THE FRONT.

News has been received that Lieutenant Brendan Lane Mullins, of the Royal Field Artillery, has been killed in action. Lieutenant Lane Mullins was the only son of the Hon. John Lane Mullins, M.L.C., Privy Chamberlain to the Holy Father. His mother is a daughter of the late John Hughes, K.C.S.G.. of Kincopal and a sister of Sir Thomas Hughes, M.L.C., K.C.S.G. He was educated at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, from which he proceeded in 1909 to Beaumont College, Old Windsor, England. He was at Beaumont for four years, and besides taking some school prizes, he won a silver cup for 100 yards in lower line, and was captain and bow of college fours that won the Ryan Cup in 1911. He also rowed in the college eight in 1912, when his team won the challenge cup at Staines Regatta on the Thames. Seven of the eight obtained commissions when the war broke out, and two have been killed in action.

His parents and sisters rejoined him in London in 1911, and together they were present at the Coronation celebrations and the Beaumont jubilee festivities; and after a tour of Italy, had tho privilege of an audience with the Holy Father in the Throne Room of the Vatican. Lieutenant Mullins returned to Australia in 1912. He had taken great interest in military matters, attending the guards' officers training camp in England, and later he qualified for a commission in the Australian Military Forces. But being under the age limit of 25 years, he was refused a commission on active service, and not being willing to remain a spectator, he went to England in 1916 with his aunt, Mrs. John Hughes, and his cousins, Geoffrey Hughes and Maurice Hughes, who are now at the front. Being a student in engineering, he visited several works on his way through America, and on arrival in England he obtained a commission in the R.F.A. He was ordered to France in April, 1917. Writing to his parents at that time, he said: "At last I have been warned for overseas. There is no satisfaction in staying in England when one has come this far to fight, and I now feel the time has come when I am going out to do what is my duty, and I hope that God will give me the courage to go through with the whole business properly. I am not going to say I am longing to get out there, be cause nobody is; but there is a great satisfaction in feeling that at last I urn to have an opportunity of doing my small share in this war, and I feel perfectly at ease and. content."

Lieutenant Lane Mullins joined the R.H.A. on May 18 last, and went to the front.

On Wednesday, 20th inst., Mr. John Lane Mullins received a cable from the Secretary of the War Office. London, announcing that Lieutenant Lane Mullins was killed in action on June 14, and expressing the sympathy of the Army Council. His battery was attached to the 20th D.A.C.— R.I.P.

Original publication

Additional Resources

Citation details

'Mullins, James Brendan Lane (Brendan) (1895–1917)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/mullins-james-brendan-lane-brendan-20510/text31420, accessed 29 March 2024.

© Copyright Obituaries Australia, 2010-2024

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Lane Mullins, James Brendan
Birth

1895
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Death

14 June, 1917 (aged ~ 22)
Arras, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Cause of Death

killed in action

Cultural Heritage

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Education