The Thistle Archive

James predominantly switched between the centre and the right of the half-back line throughout his career. Just after school age, he played in the juvenile grade Leagues in Glasgow with Fern Thistle and Bellevue Hearts, stepping up to the junior grade with Ashfield in his late teens. Signed for Rangers in May, 1912, but played only 1 League game in the season which followed. Made almost 100 League appearances at Dumbarton in 3 full seasons from 1913-14, and had a brief stint at Renton before rejoining Rangers for a much more successful second spell in 1916-17. He was a man of many clubs, although he only played a combined handful of games for Clyde (1917), Thistle (1918) and Kilmarnock (1918).

His last main spell in Scotland came with St Mirren in 1919-20, before he set off on a southwardly adventure, landing at Millwall in the summer of 1920, playing in their first ever League fixture vs. Bristol Rovers that August. He did well in his 3 season spell at the Den, playing in over 100 matches, and maintained that consistency with Second Division Fulham for a couple of seasons, then with Wigan Borough for a few seasons from 1925. His long and winding road finished in the Welsh League, joining the newly-turned-professional Caernarvon Athletic in 1928. They went on to reach the FA Cup 2nd Round in 1929 and won the League in 1929-30.

James died suddenly at Glasgow Infirmary on the 22nd January, 1958. His funeral was held 3 days later, at Maryhil crematorium, on the 25th January. From that, we learned that he was the beloved husband of Catherine Moir of 25 Willowbank Street.