James Meldrum Pert, a hairdresser from Dundee, arrived in Adelaide in 1912. He played for Port Adelaide reserves in 1913. The following year he was named in the same large Port squad as Tom Pidgeon for a pre-season friendly in April. However, Port did not field a reserve team that season so Pert did not get many games.
He joined the AIF in October 1916 at the age of 27. He may have tried to join earlier but was rejected for defective vision. With the 10th Battalion in France, Pert was gassed in August 1918 during the successful Allied advance. After the Armistice Pert was granted extended leave without pay during which he attended to family affairs in Scotland.
Returning to Adelaide in late 1919, James Pert married Robina Northey in 1924 and they had a son born in 1927. During the Second World War James re-enlisted and worked as a sergeant-clerk in records between 1940 and 1947. He died in Adelaide in 1969. James and Robina’s son Mel died in Adelaide in 2004.