James Lawson

Bank: The Royal Bank of Scotland

Place of work: Head Office, Edinburgh

Died: 1 July 1917

James McKercher Lawson was born in Ponteland, Northumberland, in around 1894, the only son of Duncan Lawson, a gardener, and his wife Wilhelmina. In April 1910, when he was 16 years old, he went to work for the Royal Bank of Scotland as an apprentice at its Duns branch. In October 1914 he transferred to head office in Edinburgh.

During the First World War Lawson left the bank to join the army, and by 1917 he was a Second Lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, on active service in France. He was killed there on 1 July 1917. He was 23 years old.

James Lawson is commemorated on a bank war memorial at 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.