Richard James

The Reverend Richard James, antiquary, historian, linguist and poet, was buried in St Margaret's Church Westminster on 8th December 1638 but he has no marker or memorial.

He was a son of Richard James, Member of Parliament for Newport, Isle of Wight, and his wife Averen. He was born in the town in 1591. His brother John was a merchant and his sisters were Averen and Jane. Two of his uncles served Queen Elizabeth I and another, Edward, was a Canon of Christ Church Oxford and rector of Freshwater. After education at Oxford university Richard became chaplain to Sir Dudley Digges (Master of the Rolls). He published sermons and some poems and assisted fellow antiquary John Selden in composing, for the Earl of Arundel, Marmora Arundelliana in 1624. He was known as a very good Grecian poet and was skilled in various languages including Anglo Saxon and Russian. While in Russia he compiled information for the first Anglo-Russian dictionary. His greatest work was in cataloguing Sir Robert Cotton's vast library. His first wife Elizabeth was buried in St Margaret's in July 1618 and his second wife was Jane Hardy (nee Edes). He died of a fever at Sir Thomas Cotton's house in Westminster.

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

For his father: The History of Parliament