JAMES, William Henry 1796-1873. Engineer. Born in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, the son of William James (1771-1837), solicitor and railway ‘projector’ [ie project manager]. He helped his father in 1821 on a survey for the Manchester and Liverpool Railway. Subsequently he started business as an engineer in Birmingham, where he conducted experiments on steam locomotion on roads. He took out numerous patents for locomotives, steam engines, boilers and railway carriages. He died in the College Almshouses at Dulwich, on 16 December 1873 and was buried in Camberwell Old Cemetery.
Rosemary Warhurst