James Mortimer Innes was born in around 1875 in Bellie in Moray in Scotland. He joined the Seaforth Highlanders and by December 1908 he had married Nella Mackay Munro. They had two daughters together Helen Jean Mortimer Innes and Isobel Mary Stuart Innes.

Mortimer Innes first joined the Seaforth Highlanders in 1893 as a private and gradually rose through the ranks serving around the world in places such as Cairo, Nawshera and Dublin. During his service he suffered from illnesses, injuries and hardships but this did not stop him. Eventually he was discharged on the 10th of January 1914 upon the end of his second period of engagement.

However he reenlisted upon the outbreak of war for home service. By March 1915 he was with the 2/5 Seaforth’s and then the 3/5 Seaforth’s as a Company Sergeant Major until September 1916 when he moved to the 3rd Seaforth’s before moving to MPSC in March 1918. On the 8th of September 1919 he was discharged after serving a total of four years and 363 days in the army.

He received a pension up until his death in 1955 in Inverness in Scotland. His wife had died some years before him in 1933.

Research by Emily Forsyth

This intricate wooden plaque featuring the Cameron Highlanders crest, was carved by a prisoner of war at Ure Bank POW Camp in Ripon, Yorkshire, during World War II. Ripon is often thought of as a training camp, however the airfield was repurposed during the Second World War. The portrait of Mortimer Innes describes him as a 5th Seaforth Highlander, 1916, South Camp, Ripon, Yorkshire.