He came from a long line of the James family all living at The Forge (Blacksmith) in the small village of Upton in Berkshire.
James and Joshua J. Turner[3] were the first Protestant Christian missionaries in Shanxi and begin to help out victims of the disaster and famine.
In 1878 he married a CIM member, Marie Huberty, a French speaking Belgian (born about 1846 in Liège, Belgium and died in Santa Cruz, California, United States, date unknown).
[9] He lived for several years in the United States, where in 1895 he was awarded the Lowell Lectureship in Boston, and lectured on the history, beliefs and philosophies of China.
[10] This position he held for about a year, and he was then invited to join and accepted a place and was appointed a professor at the Imperial University in Peking.
[11] They had two sons, Hubert Carey James, (born in Shanxi, China in 1879 and died 1953 in San Mateo, California), who became an accountant and Harold Francis James, (born in Berkshire, England in 1881 and died 1957 in Calhoun, Illinois) who studied at the Academié Julian[12] in Paris with Jean Paul Laurens (1838–1921) a French painter and sculptor and Harold became an artist, an artistic author and a college teacher.
[16] Some sources state that he was decapitated and his head was stuck on a spear for public viewing, by orders of General Ronglu (Jung Lu) (1836–1903), who was directing the siege of the foreign legations.
[17] His killing was the second of an eminent foreigner following the declaration of war by the Chinese government, the first being Clemens von Ketteler, the German Minister.