James Bland Burgess

Sir James Bland Lamb, 1st Baronet (8 June 1752 – 13 October 1824), born James Burges and known as Sir James Burges, Bt, between 1795 and 1821, was a British author, barrister and Member of Parliament.

Born James Burges, he was the only son of George Burges and Anne Whichnour Somerville. His mother was the daughter of James Somerville, 12th Lord Somerville. His father had distinguished himself at the Battle of Culloden by capturing the standard of Charles Edward Stewart and was later deputy paymaster in Gibraltar.

He went to Westminster School and then entered University College, Oxford in 1770 before studying law at Lincoln's Inn in 1773.

Burges first served in Parliament as Member of Parliament for Helston from 1787 to 1790). He then served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1789 and 1795 before becoming a Baronet on 21 October 1795 and Knight Marshal of his majesty's household in November of the same year, where he played an important role in the coronation of George IV.

Burges was an ambitious and productive writer. He was well established; being a friend of William Cumberland and John Graves Simcoe; and a patron of Thomas Dermody. He was connected by marriage to Lord Byron. He wrote music for Ode to the Passions by William Collins and wrote the prologue to Vortigern and Rowena (1796).

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