James Robinson Planché was born in Old Burlington St, Piccadilly, London in 1796 to Jacques Planché and Catherine Emily Planché. His parents were first cousins and descendants of Huguenot refugees who had fled to England in 1685 following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Jacques Planché was a moderately prosperous watchmaker, a trade he had learned in Geneva, and was personally known to King George III. His name was pronounced "plank" or "planky" for the beginning of his life, but he added, or rather re-added, the accent to his name, restoring the French pronunciation. However, after doing this, editors would sometimes jab at Planché writing "that a particular work of 'Mr. Plank' was 'wooden'".