James Duff Proctor

James (Jim) Proctor was born in Dundee in 1878 and moved to Aberdeen shortly afterwards.

Jim went to school in Holburn Street in Aberdeen, where he studied Latin. He later moved to 21 Skene Square with his family, where they lived with 12 other families in the building.

He was a boilermaker by trade, and sailed in the Royal Navy as a Chief Petty Officer, as part of the Dover Patrol in WW1. He served on the 'Monitor' and a destroyer with Bertram Ramsay. He also worked on minesweepers. He didn’t like to talk about his experiences at war very much to his family. Whenever he got leave from the forces he would have to ask for an extra 2 days due to the length of time it took to get to Aberdeen from the South of England.

During WW2 Jim re-joined the Royal Navy at age 62 as part of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He was re-admitted despite his age due to his sought after skills as a boilermaker, and the desperation of the situation. After Churchill gave the order to get anything that floats over to Dunkirk, Jim sailed over there with the little ships to help with the rescue effort. He sailed on the Yorkshire Lass (LT-1201). His daughter Sheila donated money to the Little Ships fund throughout her life in memory of her father. The little ships continue to sail over to Dunkirk every 5 years, Jim’s grandson Steve (the donor) has sailed with them twice in honour of his grandfather.