After graduating from Harvard, Bishop became an associate member of Redmond & Co. of New York, a securities firm, in 1904. Beginning in 1916, he was a "heavy stockholder and officer" of the Welsbach Street Illuminating Company. At the time of his death, Bishop served as vice president and treasurer of the firm.[1]
He also served as a director of the Syracuse Lighting Company and held directorates or executive positions in the American Street Lighting Company, the Barron Collier Company, the Kitson Company, the Pennsylvania Globe Company, and the Automatic Lighting Company, as well as a group of Welsbach enterprises.[1]
Augusta Hancock Bishop (b. 1894), who married David Rives Sigourney (1893–1968), a descendant of William Cabell Rives, in 1917.[21]
Natalie Holmes Bishop (1898–1960), who married Charles Francis Choate III (1893–1930).[22]
Muriel Bishop (1901–1992),[23] who married Benjamin Rush.[24]
Abigail Hancock Bishop (1905–1997), who married Winthrop Donnison Hodges.[25]
On June 1, 1932, Bishop was found dead at the wheel of his car in his garage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although the motor was running when he was discovered by a gardener, investigators concluded that the cause of death was heart disease rather than gas fumes.[26]
^"W.J. Kinsley Gives Testimony to Help Mrs. Bishop in Divorce Action". The New York Times. May 28, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-07. Justice Goff, in the Supreme Court, began the trial yesterday afternoon without a jury of Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop's divorce suit against her husband, James Cunningham Bishop, the banker. Mrs. Bishop is receiving $10,000 a year temporary alimony pending the outcome of the trial of the suit.
^"Water Bottled at Bishop Farm, Check Shows, Was Sent to Room"(PDF). The New York Times. May 30, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-07. A midnight meal check of the Hotel Astor, dated Dec. 28, 1912, was put in evidence yesterday before Supreme Court Justice Goff, who is hearing Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop's suit for divorce against her husband, James Cunningham Bishop, the banker. The check called for one quart of Orchard water, among its other items, to be delivered to room 622, occupied by a man and woman registered as Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Baer of Philadelphia.
^"Guilty of Contempt of Court in Keeping Daughter with Her, Banker's Lawyer Argues"(PDF). The New York Times. March 29, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-07. Henry W. Taft, brother of Ex-President Taft and attorney for James Cunningham Bishop, the banker who is being sued by his wife for divorce, appeared before Supreme Court Justice Platzek yesterday and argued that Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop be committed to jail for contempt of court in disobeying an order of Justice Hendrick which gave the custody of her daughter, Natalie, 15 years old, to her father pending the outcome of the divorce suit.