James Chivers was born on 27 February 1888 in Avebury, Wiltshire, the son of Jeremiah and Louisa Chivers. On 3 December 1910, he married Sophie Adams in the village church of St James. The couple went on to have two children: Albert James, born 1912, and Beatrice Mary, born 1914.

Although James’s service record has not survived, it is safe to assume that he enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment at the same time as his older brother, Charles William Chivers, as their service numbers were 18111 and 18112, respectively. Both were posted to its 2nd Battalion with which, unfortunately, Charles was killed in action as a corporal on 11 April 1917 in France. James was captured in May 1918 and imprisoned in Kassel prisoner of war camp. Shortly after his release and repatriation, he died of heart failure on Christmas Eve 1918 and is buried in his village churchyard at St James's.