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| James Chalmers |
 James Chalmers was born on Monday, 3rd December, 1877, in Old Luce, Wigtownshire. The forward signed for Thistle on Wednesday, 3rd October, 1900, having most recently been with Notts County. Aged 22, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 6th October, 1900, in a 3-1 win away to Heart of Midlothian in the SFL First Division. There were no goals for James during his spell with Thistle. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 15th December, 1900, in a 1-0 defeat at home to Heart of Midlothian in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 7 occasions. His club-list included Beith, Morton, Sunderland, Preston North End, Notts County, Partick Thistle, Watford, Tottenham Hotspur, Swindon Town and Norwich City. James died on Monday, 12th July, 1915, in Gallipoli, Turkey, aged 37. |
 James started his football career playing for Beith, and left for Morton in 1896. A well travelled footballer, after a season at Morton where he made 18 appearances, with 8 goals, he moved on to have successive seasons with Sunderland (26 appearances 6 goals); Preston North End (10 appearances 2 goals); Notts County for 1899-1900 season (25 appearances 2 goals). He had a second spell at Beith before joining Thistle in October1900. Three days after signing he made his debut in 3-1 away win at Hearts in the SFL First Division. James played 7 matches for the Jags, his final game also being against Hearts, but on this occasion a 1-0 defeat at home. James moved on to Watford for the 1901-02 season, and made 30 appearances with 5 goals. He next spent two seasons at Tottenham Hotspur before going to Swindon Town for the 1904-05 and 1905-06 seasons. It was here that he was at his most successful with 62 appearances and 13 goals. After a spell at Norwich City, James returned to Beith for a third time. James was a private in 1\4 Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. As part of the 155th Brigade of the 52 (Lowland Division), having recently landed at Gallipoli, they were sent into battle at Achi Baba Nullah close to Krithia on 12th July 1915. The battle started well for the Division, but having overextended themselves, they came under heavy artillery and machine gun fire, causing many casualties. By the end of the battle one third of the Division’s strength had been killed, wounded or were missing in action. James (38 years old) was killed during this battle. He is commemorated at the Helles Memorial. We commemorate his life in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle Fallen →. |
| (DMAC/JK) |
Historian's note: This guy never played with Bristol Rovers. James 'Jimmy' Chalmers is widely (and wrongly) confused with the John 'Jackie' Chalmers who turned out for Bristol Rovers in 1908 (DG).