James Jeffrey Roche was an Irish-American poet, journalist and diplomat. Roche was taken to the United States as a young child, and grew up in Prince Edward Island. At the end of his life he was the American Consul in Switzerland. The boy was educated by his father, and later in St. Dunstan's College. Here, at the age of fifteen, foreshadowing his career, he turned journalist and proudly edited the college weekly "unto the urn and ashes" of its infant end. His youth had a fair share of spirited adventure, an encountering of odd characters and scenes, a sharp observance of events, and a close, rapid, honest mental life.