Rather than being a forger as some modern scholars like to believe Orrock was a dedicated enthusiast of contemporary British art and emulated some of those artists in his own work.

He illustrated three books in the style of Turner: Mary Queen-of-Scots, 1906; Old England : her story mirrored in her scenes, 1908; and, In the Border country, 1906.

Orrock studied painting under James Ferguson, William L. Leitch, and John Burgess, later enrolling at the Nottingham School of Design where he was taught by Thomas Stuart Smith.

"Shipwreck, the Rescue' passed from Sir J.C. Robinson, surveyor of Queen Victoria's pictures, then to James Orrock Esq.

His brother Hector Heatly Orrock (1831-1862) was a short-lived architect involved in railway station design with Sir Thomas Bouch.