[1] Barbour James was born in British Guiana, where he became postmaster in Belfield in the 1890s.
[2] While living in British Guiana he established the self-help Victoria Belfield Agricultural Society which recognised the value of improving the diet and farming among the Afro-Guianese.
Barbour-James moved his family to London where he could more easy visit them.
Later he moved to London[3] where he founded the African Patriotic Intelligence Bureau in 1918.
[1] His daughter, Amy Barbour-James, was also a civil rights activist.