Hi Marg I drafted a reply to your original post, and now realise that I saved it to my 'Drafts folder' and didn't send it. This is it. It wanders a bit but it may help. "Some thoughts: here in the UK, in 1915, the upper age limit for volunteers enlisting in the British army was 40. Conscription was introduced in 1916, and I think the upper age limit was increased to 41 (these limits did not apply to those who had previously served in the army). If Australia had the same limits, then it is not unlikely that James Dobbie did subtract a year or two from his age at enlistment. Since he gave a friend as his nok, it suggests that not only did he not have near relatives in Australia but that his parents were dead. Without knowing any details of his life in Scotland apart from an uncertain year of birth and place of birth (he may have been born in Lanarkshire or Renfrewshire but gave Glasgow as the nearest recognisable place of birth), I think the answer to your search probably lies in Australia and not in Scotland or the rest of the UK. I assume you have looked for him on the Australian electoral registers? And what about Arthur Horsefield. Have you managed to trace him? I had a look at the birth registrations of a number of James DOBBIEs born in Lanarkshire between 1870 and 1876. The one who seemed most likely based on his month of birth and place of birth was James Dobbie born in Glasgow on 22 March 1871 to William Dobbie, Blacksmith, and Isabella Robertson. But he died in 1872. The only other birth in Glasgow during this period was James DOBBIE born September 10 1872 to James Dobbie, Funeral Undertaker, and Catherine Carroll. I could not find a death registration for him." Rhoda