James is laid to rest in Tillicoutry Cemetery, with a CWGC headstone marking his grave. He passed away on November 6th at the age of 24 due to influenza and pneumonia at the Northern General Hospital in Lincoln.
James Bowie Westwater was born on May 1, 1894, at 52 Stirling Street, Tillicoutry, to James, a joiner, and Isabella (née Bowie). He was the third child and first son of the couple.
By 1901, the Westwater family had left Tillicoutry and moved east to Aberhill in Buckhaven on the Fife coast. James, aged 6, was attending school. The family had also grown as three more daughters had arrived.
In the 1911 Census, James, aged 16, and his sister Isabella, aged 20, had left Fife. They lived with their unmarried maternal uncle, John Bowie, at 165 Sinclair Drive in the Cathcart district of Glasgow, along with two unmarried aunts and their grandmother. This address remained James’ official residence when he died (see death registration). James later found a job as a railway clerk. The rest of his immediate family also eventually moved to Glasgow.
On December 6th, 1916, James enlisted in the British Army after being formally called up for service. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Surviving service records suggest that he may have enlisted earlier, as he underwent medical tests in September of that year. He was posted shortly after enlisting and was relocated several times during his military service.
On October 31st, 1918, he was admitted to the Northern General Hospital with influenza. He died a week later, just days before the Armistice, a cruel irony I have encountered all too often.
Sources: Ancestry, Scotland’sPeople
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