James Brown Yuile was born in 1885 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. He served with the Third Lanarkshire Rifles for three years before migrating to Australia. He is little mentioned in Melbourne match reports but is noted as being a significant absence for Burns after his enlistment in July 1915.
James was wounded in France on 3 July 1916 with serious fractures of the tibia and fibula. While recuperating he wrote a letter on 2 October 1916 that was published widely in newspapers across Australia. In it, James is revealed to be an observant and affable chap. And the breadth of the press coverage revealed the solid Imperial loyalties of many contemporary Australian newspapers.
We all received the command to appear at Sandringham. Motor cars arrived to take us over to the estate, which is about seven miles from here. The Queen and Princess Victoria met us at the door, shook hands with us; and the footman took our coats. We then passed into the house and had a look round. It is beyond me to try and describe it, and I can only say that every room seemed better than another. We all went out into the grounds; I bringing up the rear on crutches. You know, I being the only one on crutches of the party, I was rather conspicuous, and I regretted it, as they were always cautioning me to watch and not slip, or asking me if I felt tired. Once or twice I felt inclined to make a slip, but I refrained. After we had a look at the flower gardens — and they are beautiful — the Queen made me sit down beside her in the grounds, while the rest of them wandered round to see the stables and kitchen garden, under the guidance of Princess Victoria. Sitting on a chair not half a yard from her I could scarcely believe that she was 72 years of age, as she did not look more than 50. She talks with a slightly foreign accent, is a little deaf, and walks with the aid of a stick, as she had had a bad knee ever since she had rheumatic fever! She soon made me feel thoroughly at home, as she insisted on my smoking, and as I hadn’t my hat on put up her parasol to shield me from the sun. I sat there for over an hour talking away to her just the same as if she were my mother. She is a remarkably interesting woman, and she talked quite a lot about King Edward, and about the late Lord Kitchener. She seemed very interested in the Australians — (we were the first lot to visit Sandringham — and asked all about the life in the trenches. How were we treated at the home? Were the nurses nice? Was the food good? Had we lots of books to read and cigarettes to smoke? These and a host of similar questions I was kept busy answering. Mrs. Knowies — a wonderful woman, 83 years of age — came over, and after speaking for a moment or two said, ‘well, two is company; so I won’t stay.’
The Queen ‘snapped me’ ; as I had to write out my name and give all my family history, I am hoping to have a copy of the photo. When the others came back we all went back to the house where a splendid tea was set out in the ballroom. We all did justice to it, as the Queen and Princess Victoria kept moving about, and pressing us to try something else. After tea the cigarettes were passed round, crackers were pulled, and each of us put on our paper hats. Looking round it looked like a pantomime to see everyone with a hat or a mask on, and to everyone it felt just like a big familv gathering, and really that was all it was. We were all loaded with fruit to take back with us; and it was a day that will live long in my memory, if only for the way in which wo were treated.
The extent of his injuries meant his being invalided back to Australia on 13 February 1917 and no doubt meant the end of his football career. He died on 7 May 1958 in Camberwell, Victoria at the age of 73.