James, born in 1891, was a son of Kenneth and Elizabeth nee Coombs (his father was a gamekeeper at Morsgail from 1887 until 1912).

He went out to the States at the age of 22, and, together with his brother Angus, ran a sheep farm. He returned home to Lewis for a holiday in October 1951, after an absence of 38 years, but, when he arrived in Glasgow, he became ill and was taken to the Royal Infirmary, where he died.