262138 Lt. James Watt MC.British Army 9th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from:Portobello, Scotland In 1899, at the age of 17, James Watt joined the Territorial Army, 9th Royal Scots (The Dandy Ninth), but being too young for ranks he served as a bugler.
He joined the 2/1st Scottish Horse in 1914 and served as an NCO in Gallipoli, Sinai, and Salonika. He was then commissioned into the 9th Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, with which he served in France. He was awarded the Military Cross for action at Viller-Guislain during the Battle of Cambrai.
In WWII, he served with the Royal Scots, 70th National Defence Battalion from 1939 to 1942, when he was discharged at age 60.
In 1957, he was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Edinburgh. In 1963, he was enrolled as a Knight of Justice in The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1968, he published his memoirs Irons in the Fire. In January 1975, at the age of 93, he died at West Linton, Edinburgh.
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