Campbell was born in Millport, Cumbrae, Scotland.[1] and came to Victoria with his father, Mathew Campbell, in 1853.[2] Mathew Campbell founded an engineering business at Ballarat, amassed wealth, and left his family in good circumstances. The business came into James Campbell's hands in 1863, and he stuck to it with great success until 1878, when he retired in order to travel. He paid visits to Europe in 1870, 1873, and 1878, and had a grand tour through Asia in 1886.[2]
Campbell's travels through India, China, and Japan, and his journey across Siberia and through the Holy Land, furnished material for a series of well-written articles from his pen, and for a number of very interesting lectures which he delivered in Ballarat and elsewhere after his return.[2]