Died: 29 August 1930 in St Helen's, Drumchapel, Dumbartonshire, Scotland

James Bolam's father was Thomas Bolam (born about 1804 in Elsdon, Northumberland) who was a coachman, and his mother was Jane Bolam (born about 1797 also in Elsdon). He had several siblings: Elizabeth (born about 1830), William (born about 1835) and Mary Jane (born about 1835). In 1851, when James was 12 years old, he was living at Haywards Yard, Cloth Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland.

Bolam was educated in Newcastle, the city of his birth. His first post was at the Trinity Navigation School of Newcastle and from there he went to Leith, the port for the city of Edinburgh, where he taught at the Government Navigation School.

When James Bolam become a founder member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in 1883 he was head of the Government Navigation School in Leith:-

... a significant group of trained navigation teachers having their own bond of common origin were planted in the nautical community and, although many became private teachers, the hopes for a broader educational base to navigation teaching were not forgotten. James Bolam served as head at Leith for63 years until 1924, building up his school to such an extent that it was designated a Central Institution in 1903.

1. James Bolam, The Scotsman (30 August 1930).