james henry pope was born in st helier, channel islands in 1837., on 11 september 1837, the son of jane dacombe and her husband james pope, a retired english confectioner who migrated from hampshire to jersey in the early 1830s. he was educated privately in jersey where he became fluent in french before he emigrated to melbourne, australia, with his parents in 1852 aged 15, on the "castle eden" and landed at port phillip, melbourne.