James was born about 1857 in Ireland.
He married Sarah Jane McCready on 16 Sep 1883 in Monaghan, Co. Monaghan, Ireland.
After immigrating with Sarah to New Zealand, James worked as a postmaster who was at first stationed in the city of Auckland. After working there for a considerable amount of years, he shifted to the town of Upper Hutt around 1909.
He passed away on 29 March 1914 as the result of a freak explosion at the Benge & Pratt general store in Upper Hutt.