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The Welsh Ploughboy (1720 – 1783)
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Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds
© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London |
William James was born in Pembrokeshire in the summer of 1720 to a poor Welsh miller. He ran away to sea in 1732 and by the age of 18, was commanding a ship in the West Indies under Captain Hawke. It was during this period that he was captured by the Spanish and when released, drifted at sea until being captured again in Cuba. In 1747 he joined the East India Company and was appointed Commander of its Marine Forces fleet which protected its trading ships. There had been many failed attempts to defeat the Arab pirates on the island fortress off the West coast of India. James sailed The Protector, a 44 gun ship, to fight the pirates and was ultimately successful because he had taken soundings of the rocky coastline and was able to get close to the island using shallow boats.
He returned to England in 1759 a rich man and had two children with Anne Goddard. They lived in Gerard Street in Soho. James was a director of the East India Company and was also elected as the MP for West Looe in Cornwall. He was also awarded a baronetcy in 1778, becoming Sir William James. He purchased Park Farm estate at Eltham in 1774. It was during the festivities of his daughter’s wedding in December 1783 that James suffered a stroke and died. He was buried in Eltham churchyard and on the 2nd of April the following year, the first stone of Severndroog Castle was laid, commissioned by a grieving Lady James.
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