James Warburton Begbie was born in Edinburgh, the second son of the physician James Begbie and Elizabeth Speirs. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh from 1843, serving twice as president of the Royal Medical Society. He graduated MD in 1847 and studied in Paris before returning to Edinburgh, where he became a family practitioner, physician to the New Town Dispensary, physician to the cholera hospital in 1854 and physician to the Royal Infirmary from 1855, delivering clinical lectures and developing one of the largest consulting practices in Britain.
