He was educated at the Bolton grammar school and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but did not graduate.
This was due to the influence of his uncle William Holmes, vicar of Guilsborough, Northamptonshire, under whom he studied divinity.
He was ejected in 1662, but, continuing to preach, he suffered some months' imprisonment at the instance of his relative Sir Roger Bradshaw, an episcopalian magistrate.
John Pearson, the bishop of Chester, would not sustain information against peaceable ministers, so Bradshaw was not disturbed.
James Bradshaw died at Rainford in 1702, in his sixty-seventh year, his death being the result of a mishap while riding to preach.