Private James Clifford was born in 1790 in Tipperary, Ireland. He was 5 foot 4.5 inches tall and had blue eyes, a fair complexion, and sandy hair. He enlisted into the 45th Nottinghamshire Regiment of Foot on the 24th May 1808 at the age of 18 years and was a Tailor by trade. 

On the 14th December 1808, he deserted and later volunteered into the 1st Battalion on the 1st May 1809. He served with the battalion in the Peninsula and was wounded in the right leg by a gun shot wound at Talavera on the 28th July 1809. He consequently lost his leg and was discharged on the 4th April 1815 due to his wounds.