[3] After further preparation, including a course of medical studies at King's College Hospital, at the end of 1842 he embarked for British Guiana, where he was promptly ordained Deacon by Bishop Austin and sent up the Essequibo River with his wife and two sons to mission to the Carib Indians.
Pollitt heard that Anglican ministers were urgently needed in the newly proclaimed colony of South Australia, and together with W. J. Woodcock, under the auspices of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts embarked with his family on the Emu, arriving in Adelaide in May 1846.
[5] In 1864 he was unanimously elected to Christ Church, North Adelaide,[6] where Archdeacon Woodcock, a fellow passenger on the Emu, had been officiating.
James Pollitt was an eloquent preacher of the Evangelical school, noted for his charity to the poor of all religions and greatly loved by those who knew him best.
He was an effective and successful advocate for State aid until the Act which provided support to the Established Church was overturned by the Legislative Council.