Walter James, 1st Baron Northbourne

For other people named Walter James, see Walter James (disambiguation).

Walter Charles James, 1st Baron Northbourne (3 June 1816 – 4 February 1893), known as Sir Walter James, 2nd Baronet, from 1829 to 1884, was a British Member of Parliament.

Walter James, age 13, in 1829 when he came into his title

James was the son of John James, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands, and grandson of Sir Walter James, 1st Baronet. He succeeded his grandfather in the baronetcy in 1829, and in 1837 he was elected to the House of Commons for Kingston upon Hull as a Tory, a seat he held until 1847. He acquired Betteshanger House (now Northbourne Park School) in Kent in 1850 and commissioned George Devey to oversee extensions and alterations to the house.

He served as High Sheriff of Kent for 1855.^[1] He was a friend of William Ewart Gladstone, and in 1884, during Gladstone's second term as prime minister, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Northbourne, of Betteshanger in the County of Kent.^[2] From at least 1882 James was the lord of the manor of Langdon.^[3]

Lord Northbourne married Sarah Caroline Ellison, daughter of Cuthbert Ellison, in 1841. She died in 1890. Lord Northbourne survived her by three years and died in February 1893, aged 76. He was succeeded in his titles by his son Walter.

Stepbrothers Charles Stewart Hardinge age 6, and Walter Charles James age 13 in 1829, painted by Thomas Lawrence

Ancestry

Ancestors of Walter James, 1st Baron Northbourne

16. Richard Head 8. Sir Thomas Head 17. 4. Sir Walter James, 1st Baronet 18. Rowland Holt 9. Jane Holt 19. 2. John James 20. Sir John Pratt 10. Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden 21. Elizabeth Wilson 5. Lady Jane Pratt 22. Nicholas Jeffreys 11. Elizabeth Jeffreys 23. 1. Walter James, 1st Baron Northbourne 24. William Stewart 12. Alexander Stewart 25. 6. Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry 26. John Cowan 13. Mary Cowen 27. 3. Lady Emily Jane Stewart 28. Sir John Pratt 14. Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden 29. Elizabeth Wilson 7. Lady Frances Pratt 30. Nicholas Jeffreys 15. Elizabeth Jeffreys 31.

References

1. "No. 21660". The London Gazette. 9 February 1855. p. 470.
2. "No. 25411". The London Gazette. 4 November 1884. p. 4753.
3. Kelly's Directory of Kent 1882, pp. 306, 307.

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Walter James

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Hutt Thomas Perronet Thompson	Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull 1837–1847 With: William Wilberforce 1837–1838 William Hutt 1838–1841 Sir John Hanmer 1841–1847	Succeeded by Matthew Talbot Baines James Clay
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Northbourne 1884–1893	Succeeded by Walter Henry James
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by Walter James	Baronet 1829–1893	Succeeded by Walter Henry James