Though born in Inverness, James Michie was from a family firmly based in Hawick. He attended school there, and thereafter was apprenticed to an architectural practice, Alan Hopkirk, in that town. He joined the army in 1914 when war brokeout and served in the Royal Scots Regiment. Several years were spent on the Western Front, and he was then despatched to India, serving in the 54th Sikh Regiment. Married in 1920 to Anne Redpath, he was apprenticed that year to the War Graves Commission, and joined other,mainly young, architects under the direction of Edwin Lutyens, tasked in the design and layout of the many war cemeteries, big and small, that were spread about in the north-east corner of France. Michie's interest in painting can be seen developing at that time, and the landscape, often featuring a windmill, became a subject of attraction. An interest in painting remained throughout his life. This was not particularly unusual for an architect; Charles Rennie Mackintosh and others have shown much skill and achievement in painting.