Old Photograph Post Office Kilbirnie Scotland

Old photograph of the Post Office in Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

James Jameson was born in Kilbirnie on 15 August 1837. He was a notable British army surgeon during the late 19th century, seeing service during the Franco-Prussian War and heading the Army Medical Services from 1896 to 1901, during which time the Royal Army Medical Corps was established. He was educated at Glasgow University, and entered the Army as a staff assistant surgeon in 1857. He saw service in Canada in 1862 and in Trinidad in 1870, where he was promoted to Surgeon for service during a yellow fever epidemic. He commanded a division of the English Ambulance during the Franco Prussian War from 1870 to 1871 and was promoted to Surgeon Major in 1873. He was appointed Brigade Surgeon in 1883, deputy Surgeon General in 1888, and Surgeon Major General in 1893. In 1896, he succeeded Sir William MacKinnon as Director General in 1896, retaining the post until his retirement in 1901, by which time he had overseen operations in the Second Boer War. Jameson married the daughter of the Reverend Robert David Cartwright, of Kingston, Canada, who survived him with five sons and a daughter. He died at his home in Eltham on 13 September 1904 and was buried with military honours in Greenwich Cemetery on 17 September 1904.



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