Wing Commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
Sir Archibald William Henry James,
MC (September 1893 – 5 May 1980) was a British
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
politician and
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
pioneer.
Born in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, the son of H. A. James of
Hurstmonceux
Herstmonceux ( , ; ) is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, which includes Herstmonceux Castle.
The Herstmonceux Medieval Festival is held annually in August.
History
The name comes from Anglo-Saxo ...
Place,
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
, he was educated at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
.
He married twice, to Bridget Guthrie (1919), with whom he had one son,
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, and one daughter, Moira,
whose married name became Ismay Cheape; and to Eugenia Stirling (1940), with whom he had two sons.
From 1914 to 1926 he served with the
3rd Hussars, the
Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colors =
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, anniversaries =
, decorations ...
and the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, rising to the rank of
wing commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
.
At the
1929 General Election, he stood as the
Unionist candidate in the marginal constituency of
Wellingborough
Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...
in
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, but lost to
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
's
George Dallas.
He stood again in Wellingborough at the
1931 General Election, when the Labour vote collapsed nationally after Labour Prime Minister
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
split his party by forming a
National Government, and James won the seat on a swing of 16.6% of the vote.
He was narrowly re-elected at the
1935 General Election, when Dallas cut his majority to only 372 votes, and held the seat until 1945. In the Labour landslide at the
1945 General Election, he lost to Labour's
George Lindgren
George Samuel Lindgren, Baron Lindgren, JP, DL (11 November 1900 – 8 September 1971) was a British Labour Party politician.
Born in Islington, London, at the 1935 general election he was an unsuccessful candidate in the safe Conservative ...
, who took the seat with a majority of 5,990.
Whilst in Parliament he held the following offices of state:
PPS to R. A. Butler at the India Office and Ministry of Labour (1936–38), Board of Education (1942) and Honorary First Secretary to the British Embassy in Madrid (1940–41).
After his stint in Parliament, James moved to
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...
, where he owned land at Bita in the
Marandellas
Marondera (known as Marandellas until 1982) is a city in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe, located about 72 km east of Harare.
History
It was first known as Marandella's Kraal, corrupted from Marondera, chief of the ruling VaRozvi people who ...
district. In 1955 he bought Champions Farm at
Thakeham
Thakeham's History
Thakeham is a village and civil parish located north of the South Downs in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village is situated approximately 12 miles south-west of Horsham and 11 miles north of the sea-s ...
in West Sussex.
[https://thakehamparish.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CHAMPIONS.pdf Roger Taylor, Champions, Thakeham Parish periodical, November 2018] He died in
Worthing
Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
,
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, aged 86.
His son
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
followed in his footsteps as Conservative MP for
Brighton Kemptown
Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP.
The constit ...
1959–1964 and for
North Dorset
North Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. It was largely rural, but included the towns of Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset was in the River Stour vall ...
1970–1979.
He was a convert to Catholicism.
References
*
*
External links
*
The Papers of Wing Commander Sir Archibald Jamesheld at
Churchill Archives Centre
The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...
1893 births
1980 deaths
People educated at Eton College
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1931–1935
UK MPs 1935–1945
Royal Air Force officers
Recipients of the Military Cross
People from Herstmonceux
People from Horsham District
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