Profile of James Gow on Famous Like Me

James Gow aka Hamish Gow (1923 - ) Born in Glencaladh Castle, Cowal, Argyll on 23 July 1923. His father James, (born Dalnaspidal, Perthshire) was gamekeeper for the estate owner, having served on the Western Front during the Great War as an NCO with 6th Battalion Black Watch (51st Highland Division) and latterly as a senior NCO with 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers. His mother Margaret Anne Weir (born Glendaruel, Argyll) was employed as domestic service in the castle. She was a native Gaelic-speaker who had won a medal at the Royal National Mod, a national festival of Gaelic music and song.

Whilst James was still very young, his father was offered a gamekeeping post in Kintyre, Argyll, which boasted a new house with the job. Young James, or Hamish, as he would be more commonly known, attended the local primary school near the promontary land feature called Rhunahaorine (Gaelic for 'Irishman's Point'). It was an idyllic country existence for a young boy, being brought up beside the Atlantic Ocean, with the hills to roam and freedom to explore. In 1938, his primary school marks earned him a bursary place at a Highland boarding school, Keil School, Helenslee, Dumbarton. Being an only child, he settled in well and took up what would become his favourite sport, Rugby Union and later boxing. In 1941, following the severe bombing of Clydeside by the Luftwaffe, Keil School evacuated to Balnakill House, Kintyre.

His father's ill-health and premature retiremement caused Hamish to leave Keil School early as the family moved to Kirkmichael, Perthshire and his mother opened a boarding house, Alpine Cottage. Not yet of military age, Hamish joined the local Home Guard unit, related to the Black Watch regiment, Perthshire's local regiment. In early 1942, he volunteered for the army, wishing to join a Highland regiment. The recruitment officer however urged he join a corps, putting him down for the Royal Corps of Signals. Following basic training at a pre-war holiday camp at Prestatyn, North Wales, he went to Catterick Camp, Yorkshire for his signals/communications training. It was at Catterick he met and became engaged to Margaret Montgomery, a Royal Signals secretary.

He was later recruited for Special Duties - in his case Special Operations Executive. He went through the S.O.E. training programme and signalling/cypher training at a commandeered private estate - Fawley Court, Henley-Upon-Thames. Having no particular language skills, he was assigned to the Far East theatre of operations, under S.O.E.'s organisation - Force 136. Based initially at ME9 - Meerut, he was then sent to an operational base outside Calcutta and in Eastern Bengal. He underwent jungle training at Force 136's base in Horona, Ceylon - ME25. Hamish's operations were in North-East India and Burma, commencing in mid-1944 in the Kohima area and latterly in the seaborne invasion of coastal Burma in May 1945, as part of the drive on Rangoon. His war finished at the Royal Lakes, Rangoon.

Post-war, Hamish married Margaret in 1947 and raised two children, Hamish (1949-2003) and Lachlan (1953-). He worked as a precision engineer, first with a farm tractor company in Scotland and later as an M.O.D. nationwide maintenance engineer, servicing TA anti-aircraft guns from the Shetlands to Kent. He then worked as an engineer for Ferranti, later concentrating on the work-study role.

Meanwhile, his interest in tradtional Scottish music (renowned ancestors were the famous 18th Century Highland violinist Niel Gow and his equally well-known son Nathaniel - then more recently, in the 1930's, Hamish's father had to turn down the offer of a recording contract as a Scottish accordionist due to the demands of his gamekeeping job) saw Hamish form a trio with his two sons, who were still at school and learning guitar and bass respectively. As amateurs, The Hamish Gow Trio became very popular in the Edinburgh and Lothians area and further afield in Highlands and Lowlands, appearing as a concert-stage act rather than a dance band, playing authentic Gaelic, Scottish and pipe music. They were a particular favourite of Edinburgh's Gaelic community. They were also invited many times to play, to acclaim, for top piping organistions, such was their attention to the detail and feel for the genre. They recorded on BBC (Highland) radio for a brief period and were in-line to record their music until serious school studies meant the band had to all but retire.

Following Hamish's retirement, he was urged to write his memoirs by his family, both about his childhood in Kintyre and war experiences, before all was lost to posterity. The family all helped in his book's production. Called "From Rhunahaorine to Rangoon" it was largely anecdotal, but also contained interesting operational and background material about his service in S.O.E.

Sadly, Margaret died in 1999 and his elder son, Hamish, in 2003.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article James Gow