James Simpson was born in the Scottish coastal town of Musselburgh, just east of Edinburgh, in 1888. He was educated in his hometown and after leaving school commenced working as a miner. After several years in the coalmines, he learnt the trade of wire rope splicing and was probably employed by Brunton’s Wire and Rope Works.
In 1913, James travelled to Western Australia and took up residence in Fremantle. He became involved with the Caledonian Society and played for their football team, Fremantle Caledonian, during the 1914 season. His talent on the field was recognised with selection for Scotland in the three-way international series that also featured England and Australia.
James enlisted with the 16th Battalion in June 1915. Six days after landing at Gallipoli in mid-October, he reported sick and spent close to three weeks in a field hospital. Planning for the Australian Imperial Force’s evacuation of the peninsula was well underway by the time James rejoined his unit and in the late evening of 18 December he left Gallipoli.
A reorganisation of the AIF in March 1916 had James transfer to the 48th Battalion. Following a quiet introduction to trench warfare at Fleurbaix, they came into the line at Pozieres where Australian casualties would total 23,000 across a seven-week period. Amongst those was James Simpson, who was killed in action on 7 August, 1916, during the bloody battle at Mouquet Farm.