 His father, also James Giles, was of a Huguenot family named 'Gilles', from Nîmes.James senior was recorded in 1729 as being a 'China Painter' and living in London.His son, Abraham, was recorded in the same year as being apprenticed to Philip Margas, of the Glass Sellers' Company, whereas James junior was indentured in 1733 to John Arthur, a jeweller at St Martin-in-the-Fields.