Jamieson was born in Cruisdale near
Sandness in the
Shetland islands of Scotland on 9 February 1880. Following his parents who were both teachers he planned to become a teacher and attended the
University of Edinburgh to study arts. Encouraged by his brother Edward who was already studying medicine, he changed to medicine. His sister, the suffragist and writer,
Christina Jamieson, joined him in New Zealand in 1935; she died in 1942. Jamieson graduated
MB ChB in 1905. From 1907 to 1908, he was in South Africa as medical officer for a mining company, where he met his future wife, nurse Janet Milligan Boddon. They married in 1908 and had two daughters and two sons, one of whom was Dr E. S. Jamieson. Jamieson was president of the Nelson Aero Club and became a founding director of
Cook Strait Airways in 1934. He took an interest in forestry, particularly
Pinus radiata cultivation, and hosted the British Commonwealth Forestry Conference in 1957. Jamieson died in Nelson on 18 January 1963. == Honours and awards ==