James Holmes was born in Glasgow on 17 April 1875, the son of James and Annie Holmes (née McGilvray). He joined the Royal Navy as an Engine Room Artificer Fourth Class on 19 February 1900.

He joined submarines as an Engine Room Artificer Second Class and served from 21 September 1908 to 29 October 1913 in the Submarine Depot Ships HMS THAMES and HMS BONAVENTURE, but no details of submarines served are available. James Holmes then returned to general service with drafts to HMS PEMBROKE and the cruiser HMS WEYMOUTH. He rejoined submarines on 13 April 1916 and was subsequently drafted to HMS C20 (16 October 1917 to 27 February 1918) by which time he had been promoted to Chief Engine Room Artificer Second Class.

James Holmes was promoted to Artificer Engineer on 1 March 1918 and was appointed the cruiser HMS EURYALUS on 16 May 1918. He was next appointed to HMS DOLPHIN ‘for Submarines‘ on 5 May 1919 and then to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS TITANIA at Hong Kong ‘for duty with submarines‘ on 1 October 1919.

James Holmes is reported to have died – drowned in accident – at Hong Kong on 21 July 1920. He fell from the gangway of the tug HMS St MONANCE, hit his head on a fender, went into the water and drowned. He was recovered from the Dockyard Basin on 25 July and was buried on the same day in the Happy Valley Cemetery in Hong Kong.