James was the youngest son of Henry and Catherine (Kate) Wagstaff (née Rowland).
His father Henry was born in Derbyshire in 1853. His mother Catherine Rowland was born in Dublin, Ireland, in about 1864.
Henry probably served in the army as he and his wife were married in Ireland in 1880 (reg. J/F/M Longford) and their first child, Ellen was born in November 1880 at the Royal Barracks. They probably had seven children including Ellen; the younger children were born in Nottingham: Kate b. Bulwell 1882 d. 1896, and her siblings who were born in Basford, Rowland b. 1885 bap. Hyson Green St Paul 1885, Gertrude b. 1887 bap. St Paul 1888, Lilian b. 1889, Henry b. 1891 d. 1895 and James b. 1894.
The family has not yet been traced on the 1881 Census, but the second child was born in Bulwell in 1882. In 1891 Henry, a gas works stoker, and his wife were living in Eden Yard, North Gate, Basford, with their five children, Ellen (10), Kate (8), Rowland (6), Gertrude (4) and Lilian (2). Henry was born later that year but died in 1895, and James was born in 1894.
Catherine probably died in 1896 (reg. J/F/M Basford), and her daughter Kate died later the same year aged about 13.
Henry has not yet been traced on either the 1901 or 1911 Census but his five surviving children were dispersed by 1901. His eldest daughter Ellen (20) was a laundress and living in Daybrook, Arnold, as a boarder. Roland (16), a collier, and his sister Gertrude (14), a lace worker, were both living on Pomfret Street, Nottingham, boarders in the household of a widow, Emma Mee. Lilian (11) was an inmate at Beech Avenue Workhouse, New Basford, while James (6), was a 'pauper' in the Nottingham Training Institution for Pauper Children on Hartley Road, Nottingham.
Rowland attested in the Militia (4th Notts & Derby, 642 Private) in January 1905. He was then living on Henry Street, Nottingham. He named his brother James of Front Street, Arnold, as his next of kin although James would only have been about 10 years old at the time. Rowland completed the attendance requirement from 1905 to 1908 and then joined the Special Reserve on 14 June 1908.
By 1911, Ellen was married and living with her husband Joseph Hopewell (m. 1901) and their four children in Arnold. Rowland, now working as a coal miner, had married Ellen Morley in 1906 and they and their daughter were living on Little Duke Street, Sutton in Ashfield. Gertrude was married to Ernest Mather (m. 1906) and living at 27 Monsall Street, New Basford, with their young daughter, Ernest's niece and nephew, Charlotte Mather and Arthur Mather, and Gertrude's brother James, a bottle washer. Lilian, a laundry maid, was a boarder in Arnold.
James named his brother Rowland and his father as his next of kin when he joined the army in 1914. His father was living at 27 Monsall Street, Nottingham, which had been his married daughter Gertrude's address in 1911.
Henry probably died in 1938. Gertrude and Ernest were still living at 27 Monsall Street when Ernest died in 1949.