Person:James Neilson (5)

R.J. Carson/ Neilsons

James was very musical and became the bandmaster of the Newtongrange Silver Band, as well as playing violin in a small group. It was in 1906 while he was on his way to Edinburgh for an evening engagement with the group, that James was tragically killed. He had taken a short cut to the local railway station by way of the viaduct over the Esk Gorge and because of the bad weather,k did not hear a train approaching and was knocked down. He died later of multiple injuries in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, aged only 42. He is buried in Newbattle Old Cemetery near his parents and is commenorated by a gravestone.