Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the eldest son of the late James Orton, and his wife Maria, who was the daughter of Samuel Spare. James was educated at Hinckley Church School, and enlisted in the Coldstream Guards on the 11th January 1908. He embarked for France in August 1914 and was killed instantly in action near Vermelles, Belgium on the 24th October 1915. Sergeant Maddison wrote, “he had always done his duty well, and was performing a dangerous task when he was shot.” James was unmarried. His younger brother Thomas John also fell.