JAMES, Sir WILLIAM MILBOURNE (1807-1881), Lord Justice;
b. 1807 at Merthyr Tydfil, son of Christopher James, a prosperous provision merchant, uncle of C. H. James (q.v.). He was educated at the school kept by John James of Gellionnen (1779-1864) (q.v.), and at Glasgow University, and was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1831. He practised for some years on the South Wales circuit but later confined his activities to his extensive Chancery practice. In 1846 he m. Maria, daughter of William Otter, bishop of Chichester. He was knighted in 1869 and appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in 1870. An enthusiastic Liberal in politics, he was considered for the Merthyr Tydfil nomination when his cousin Charles Herbert James was elected in 1880, but he had lost touch with Welsh affairs and was little interested in Welsh national movements. He d. 7 June 1881 at his London residence.
Bibliography:
- D.N.B.;
- The Welsh Dragon, i, 483-93;
- C. Wilkins, Hist. Merthyr Tydfil, 451-2.
Author:
Walter Thomas Morgan (1912-90), Aberystwyth
