Second Lieutenant James Lawson

Second Lieutenant James McKerchar Lawson 1st Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France on 1st July 1917, aged 23. He had been born in Ponteland and was the son of  Mina Shiel ( ex Lawson ) of Old Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire and the late Duncan Lawson of Abbey St Bathans, Duns He had been educated at the Berwickshire High School before going to work in the Royal Bank of Scotland in Duns. He had originally enlisted as a private in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders before being commissioned into the K.O.S.B. in May 1917. Before enlisting he had been transferred to the Head Office of the Royal Bank in Edinburgh. He was buried in Roclincourt Military Cemetery, France. He was killed in the trenches by retaliatory shellfire after the capture by XIII Corps of Oppy Wood. He had been educated at the Berwickshire High School, Duns and is also commemorated on the Memorial Tablet placed in the new Berwickshire High School, Duns. The photo shows Oppy wood after the Battle.