The Right Honourable The Lord James of Hereford GCVO PC KC |
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Lord James of Hereford, by Bassano, 1882
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Solicitor-General | |
In office 26 September 1873 – 20 November 1873 |
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Monarch | Victoria |
Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
Preceded by | Sir George Jessel |
Succeeded by | Sir William Vernon Harcourt |
Attorney-General | |
In office 20 November 1873 – 17 February 1874 |
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Monarch | Victoria |
Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
Preceded by | Sir John Coleridge |
Succeeded by | Sir John Burgess Karslake |
In office 3 May 1880 – 9 June 1885 |
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Monarch | Victoria |
Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
Preceded by | Sir John Holker |
Succeeded by | Sir Richard Webster |
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
In office 4 July 1895 – 11 August 1902 |
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Monarch | Victoria Edward VII |
Prime Minister |
The Marquess of Salisbury Arthur Balfour |
Preceded by | The Viscount Cross |
Succeeded by | Sir William Walrond, Bt |
Personal details | |
Born | 30 October 1828 |
Died | 18 August 1911 | (aged 82)
Nationality | British |
Political party |
Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford, GCVO, PC, KC (30 October 1828 – 18 August 1911), known as Sir Henry James between 1873 and 1895, was an Anglo-Welsh lawyer and statesman. Initially a Liberal, he served under William Ewart Gladstone as Solicitor General in 1873 and as Attorney-General between 1873 and 1874 and 1880 and 1885. However, he broke with Gladstone over Irish Home Rule and joined the Liberal Unionists. From 1895 to 1902 he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Unionist ministries of Lord Salisbury and Arthur Balfour.
James was the son of Philip Turner James, a surgeon of Hereford, and Frances Gertrude, daughter of John Bodenham. His father's family was descended from the Gwynnes of Glanbran, Carmarthenshire, described in the nineteenth century as "one of the oldest in the Empire." His grandfather, Gwynne James, was also a surgeon, while his great-grandfather, another Gwynne James, was an apothecary. He was educated at Cheltenham College.