William James (naval historian)

William M. James (born around 1780 ; died May 28, 1827 in London ) was a British naval historian.

James apparently came from the Caribbean, at least he was an attorney at the Supreme Court of the Colony of Jamaica from 1801 to 1813 . When the British-American War broke out , he was arrested as a British citizen in the United States, but was able to flee and made his way to the British colony of Nova Scotia . After his return to Great Britain, he published a series of pamphlets on the naval battles of the war, in which he accused the Americans of systematically scaling down the strengths of their ships in order to make their military successes appear all the more glorious.

In 1819 he published a history of the Royal Navy at the time of the Coalition Wars . A second, six-volume edition of the work appeared in 1826. After his death, his work was continued by Frederick Chamier , who in 1837 brought out a third, expanded edition. In 1895, an index to James' works was published by the Navy Records Society .

Belated prominence was given to him when the future US President Theodore Roosevelt made the effort to refute James' claims in 1882 in his historiographical work The Naval War of 1812 .

Works

• The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793 to the Accession of George IV in January 1820 . 6 volumes. Baldwin, London 1822-1824.
  • as a complete edition: 6 volumes. Harding, Lepard, and Co., London 1826.
  • as an expanded new edition under the title: The Naval History of Great Britain. A New Edition, with Additions and Notes, and an Account of the Burmese War and the Battle of Navarino . 6 volumes. Bentley, London 1837.

literature

• John Knox Laughton :  James, William (d.1827) . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 29:  Inglis - John. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1892, p. 228 (English).