Jamie was grandson of Elizabeth Sutherland, 24th Countess of Sutherland on his father's side and Harold Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Inchrye on his mother's. His Great Uncle was disgraced Conservative politician John Profumo. Educated at Eton College, he rejected his privileged background and worked as a volunteer in refugee camps all over Europe and the Middle East, including the Calais Jungle where he taught English. Jamie wrote a number of articles about his experience working on the refugee trail. He also spent some years as a film maker, producing videos for activist organisations including the Green Party of England and Wales, Object, NO2ID and others. He also wrote and directed a number of short films and pilot episode of comedy series called 'Be Well', based in a therapy clinic. Jamie joined the YPG after spending time working in Mosul, distributing medical aid and clean water. What he saw there moved him to take the next step and travel to Syria to join the Kurds to defend Rojava against ISIS. He fought in the liberation of Raqqa, then in January 2017, when Turkey invaded the Kurdish town of Afrin, just over the Syrian border, Jamie decided to stay with the YPG to fight this new threat, despite knowing that fighting a NATO ally could cause problems if he wanted to return to Europe. Jamie appeared in a number of YPG propaganda videos, including one condemning what he perceived to be Western inaction during the Turkish-led Afrin offensive. as well as being interviewed for numerous print articles and on the BBC. Interviews with Jamie also feature heavily in the BBC documentary "Anna, the woman who went to fight ISIS", about the British YPJ fighter, Anna Campbell who died in the Afrin assault. Upon his return to the UK in 2018, he was arrested in Kent under section 5 of the Terrorism Act. He was still under investigation at the time of his death, although no former YPG volunteers have been successfully prosecuted by the British government. Jamie died on 4 September 2019, taking his own life after long struggle with mental illness.
