Hello Craig,
Enlisted Edinburgh comes from Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919.
James Clarkson.
Birthplace Clackmannan, Scotland.
Death Date 18 Jul 1916.
Death Place France & Flanders.
Enlistment Place Edinburgh.
Rank GDSN.
Regiment Grenadier Guards.
Battalion 4th Battalion.
Regimental No. 17542.
Type of Casualty Died of Wounds.
Theatre of War Western European Theatre.
I came across an old thread on Rootschat (WW1 MM???) which had some useful information including this link,
http://www.thegazette.co.uk Click on Awards & Accreditation (Purple Button)
Click on WW1 notices (Purple Toolbar under 'The Gazette' Logo)
To save searching through a lot of records, enter Pte. J Clarkson in the box under Text search.
Date: 01/08/1914 - 01/01/1919.
This should bring up 2 Newspapers relevant to your James Clarkson. 'The Edinburgh Gazette' (Issue 12947, Page 1014) published 5th June,1916 & 'The London Gazette' (Supplement 29608, Page 5588) published 2nd June,1916, both carrying lists of names of people who had earned Awards & Medals etc.
Click on View Page to see the list. Entry with both papers reads:
17542 Pte. J. Clarkson, 4th Bn., G. Gds.
Click back 2 pages (Page 1012, Edinburgh Gazette. Page 5586, London Gazette) you'll see the heading: Awarded the Military Medal. (Can be downloaded as a PDF document)
So, same James Clarkson, Regimental No:17542. Guardsman on Soldiers Died in the Great War & Private on Military Medal award.
James' brothers, John & Lewis, enlisted early 1900s at Linlithgow. Might be worth checking War Memorials in that area but I still think the Bathgate War Memorial is likely to be him. Mistakes were often made on these. My friend,s father is listed on the Milnathort Memorial although he survived WW1 & died 1960s. His name was listed instead of his brother.
Hope the above helps.
Regards, Dod.
PS. Could also try this link
www.1914-1918.net the Long, Long Trail website again mentioned on the thread WW1 MM??? started by sharren1837.