He became warden of Merthyr Settlement and then a tutor in
Worcester for the
University of Birmingham from 1934 to 1937. From 1937 to 1941 he was a lecturer in English at the
University College, Cardiff. He was a temporary principal at the Board of Trade in 1941. From 1942 to 1952 he was Winterstoke Professor of English at the
University of Bristol. In 1952 he was appointed
Vice Chancellor of the
University of Southampton. Student numbers in 1952 were about 1,000 with a staff of around 100. By 1963 student numbers had grown to 2,094. During James' tenure, in 1963 the
Nuffield Theatre was opened on the main Highfield campus for both visiting and university performers. Also in James' tenure, the
Robbins Report was published in 1963. This proposed that the number of students at English universities should rise from 150,000 to 170,000. Southampton set about increasing its students to 4,000, not by 1980 as planned, but by 1967 and James’ last two years as vice-chancellor set about reaching that target. After Southampton he was a visiting lecturer at several institutions including
Yale University from 1965 to 1966. ==Personal life==