On 13 January 1905, James, aged 23 years, was living at 8 Citadel Street, Leith, working as a railway porter. He married Bella Whitehead, a warehouse worker,  aged 20 years, living at 18 Couper Street, Leith. Moving to 29 Duke Street, Rosewell, James worked as a Blacksmith at Whitehill Colliery, Rosewell, Midlothian and the family consisted of four children: John, Agnes, James and William.

In November 1914, he enlisted in the 10th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), along with his brother-in-law 16096 Private David Anderson Taylor, arriving in France on 11 July 1915. The battalion was involved in the Battle of Loos 25th September - 15th October 1915. The offensive began following a 4-day artillery bombardment of 250,000 shells. The first battle in which the British Army used gas as a weapon of war, around 5,000 cylinders of chlorine gas were released from the front line, some of which blew back into the British lines. The bombardment had failed to destroy the German positions and the men were faced with heavy machine gun fire, resulting in 8,500 losses on the first day.

James was Initially reported missing, however, his death on the 25th September was eventually reported in the Edinburgh Evening News 6 December 1915. He was 34 years old, leaving a widow and four children. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial and also on Rosewell War Memorial. His brother-in-law David was killed on the same day. The total casualties for the period of the battle were 50,000 of which 16,000 lost their lives.