Just throwing my two cents out here:
I don't think James C. is a red herring at all. From reading the old British newspapers on this family, the Venemore's of Leighton Lizard and Heath & Meath were all corn dealers, corn dealers AND bakers, or just bakers. It is not at all uncommon to have that combination. Corn dealers didn't just deal in corn; they dealt in all seeds, for human and animal consumption, and farmers for the next years crop. The bakers probably had the best wheat milled for themselves!
The dates of everything fit too well, right down to James' birth announcement. George's father, Joseph, was constantly in the papers. Josephs other son, also a James, a corn dealer and baker pops up in articles.
As for the "bachelor", it is really not that rare to have that been recorded wrong; whether intentionally or just clerical error/assumption. Maybe Harriett was giving the information, and had no idea he had been married before.
The death of James C in 1910 is first quarter 1910. That is when Harriet is returning to Canada. Perhaps she was bringing his body back, and the death was registered in England. It is unfortunate that this didn't occur until after the Canada 1911 census so we could see where they were to check newspapers.
Anyways, that's my take on it! Take another look, and make your own decision, but I only post because I would hate to see someone hit a brick wall over one word (bachelor) on a document.
