James was born on the 28 December 1899 in Lambeth, London, to William James and Florence  Jane (née Orr) Smith. With his elder brother Herbert (1899) and two younger brothers Reginald (1902) and Ernest (1908), the family had moved from Lambeth to 75, Barnsbury Road, Islington, London and Middlesex, by the 1911 census.

James joined the Royal Navy on 10 June 1915 when he walked over the gangway of the Boy Training Ship HMS POWERFUL in Devonport dockyard as a Boy Second Class, where he served for just 8 days before a move to HMS VICTORY 1 in Portsmouth on the 19 June 1915 for 5 weeks,. He returned to Devonport on 25 August to board HMS IMPREGNABLE until 26 October when he was drafted to HMS GANGES in Shotley, Suffolk. On 27 October 1915 he walked through the gates of GANGES where, on 11 November 1915,  he was made a Boy Tel. He was then drafted to HMS MAIDSTONE, berthed just down the road in Harwich, on 19 April 1916 with an initial spell as under training then ship’s company. On 21 July 1916 he had a draft to HMS VULCAN based on the Firth of Forth until 10 February 1917 when he joined HMS HEBES for 5 weeks as VULCAN was moving  to Campbeltown. On 27 March 1917 James was drafted to HMS PLATYPUS based in Ireland (for HMS D6) and was rated up to Ord Tel on 5 August 1917.

D6 was lost on 24 June 1918 approx 70 nm North of Ireland when she was struck by a torpedo from the German submarine UB 73.  24 of the 26 man crew died when D6 sank.

James Smith, Ord Tel,  J41353. “Crossed The Bar” that day with 23 of his shipmates.