James Bermingham was a veteran of the 1867 Fenian Rising. As a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood he was present at the attack on the police barracks at Tallaght. At the funeral of James Stephens the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood on 31 March 1901, James Bermingham was one of the pall bearers along with Michael Davitt, C. G. Doran, Michael Lambert, William Brophy and William Hickey – all '67 veterans.