William Milbourne James was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1807 to Christopher James a prosperous provision and later wine and spirit merchant originally from Swansea who had settled in Merthyr with premises on the High Street. His cousin was Charles Herbert James, who later became Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil. He was educated privately at the school run by John James of Gellionnen before entering Glasgow University.
He was called to the Bar from Lincoln’s Inn in 1831. He read in Fitzroy Kelly’s chambers, and attended the Welsh sessions, but specialized in the court of chancery. Ill health forced him to spend two years in Italy before his call and slowed his career; but in time he acquired a large practice. He also became junior counsel to the Treasury in equity, the Office of Woods and Forests, the Inland Revenue, and the board of works. In 1853 he became Queen’s Counsel and a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, and succeeded Richard Bethell, First Baron Westbury as vice-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
In 1836 James was included in the preparations for the record breaking balloon trip funded by Robert Hollond, in which the English balloonist Charles Green and two companions flew from Vauxhall Gardens, London, to Weilburg, Germany, a distance of 480 miles. Green’s 18-hour trip set a long-distance balloon record for flights from England not beaten until 1907. James was one of six people included in the commemorative painting which is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. He can be seen in the painting below, third from left. Robert Hollond is at the far left and Charles Green is second from the right.
During his legal career, he held the posts of Junior Counsel to HM Treasury in Equity, Junior Counsel to the Woods and Forests Department, the Inland Revenue, and the Metropolitan Board of Works.
In 1846 James married Maria Otter, daughter of William Otter, Bishop of Chichester. In 1853 he became Queens Counsel. In 1869 he was made a Knight Bachelor, and appointed as Vice-Chancellor. In 1870 he was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal and a Privy Councillor, which entitled him to sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He was also a member of the Reform Club.
While a Lord Justice of Appeal, he decided Lambe v Eames (1871) LR 6 Ch App 597, which is a leading case on the construction of declarations of trust, and Ex parte Mackay (1873) LR 8 Ch App 643, a foundational case in bankruptcy law.
In 1880 he was considered for the nomination to the Merthyr Tydfil seat when his cousin was elected, but by that time James had lost touch with Welsh affairs and had little interest in the Welsh national movement. He died the next year in 1881 at his London residence.
Following his death, The Times newspaper reported:
“The public have been deprived of a servant of rare ability and supreme integrity, a Judge of the highest order, and every lawyer will feel that the Bench has sustained a serious loss. There may still be left his equals in learning – though his knowledge of some branches of law was admitted to be unique. But we may well doubt whether we shall soon see again that happy mixture of acumen, shrewdness, good sense, set-off by powers of felicitous and forcible expression, which made his judgements carry conviction alike to laymen and to lawyers”
