David Pelham James, MBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, DSC

Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...

 (25 December 1919 – 15 December 1986) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician, author and adventurer. Eldest son of Sir Archibald James

Archibald James

Sir Archibald William Henry James was a British Conservative Party politician and Air Force pioneer.Born in Paddington, London, the son of H A James of Hurstmonceux Place, East Sussex, he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.He married twice, to Bridget Guthrie with whom he had one...

 and Bridget James Miller (née Guthrie). On the 20th May 1950, he married Jaquetta Mary Theresa (née Digby) (born 28 October 1928), youngest daughter of Edward Kenelm Digby, 11th Baron Digby and sister of Pamela Churchill Harriman. They had six children, four sons and two daughters, born between 1951 and 1962. In 1979 he changed his name to David Guthrie-James to mark the connection between Clan Guthrie

Clan Guthrie

-Origins of the name:Although the surname Guthrie has several independent origins, the surname borne by the clan is almost certainly derives from the barony of the same name near Forfar...

 and his family home Torosay Castle

Torosay castle

Torosay Castle is a large house situated 1½ miles south of Craignure on the Isle of Mull, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides.It was designed by architect David Bryce for John Campbell of Possil in the Scottish Baronial style, and completed in 1858...

 on the Isle of Mull

Isle of Mull

The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....

.

After leaving Eton

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 in 1937, he sailed round the world "before the mast" in the 4-masted barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

 Viking, based out of the Finnish port of Mariehamn

Mariehamn

Mariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city...

.
In 1938 he went up to Balliol College, Oxford, to read Geography, but left after 4 terms to join the RNVR, serving as a Lieutenant in command of Motor Gun Boat

Motor Gun Boat

Motor Gun Boat was a Royal Navy term for a small military vessel of the Second World War. They were physically similar to the Motor Torpedo Boats but equipped with a mix of guns instead of torpedoes. Their small size and high speed made them difficult targets for E-boats or torpedo bombers, but...

s operating out of Felixstowe. In the early hours of Sunday the 28th of February 1943, his then vessel MGB 79, was sunk in action off the Hook of Holland. Lt. James and 3 of his crew were rescued from the water by a German trawler and were taken prisoner. He was sent to Marlag, the naval PoW Camp

Prisoner-of-war camp

A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...

 near Westertimke, from which he escaped twice, the second time successfully. A self-penned account of his 11 months in (and out of) the camp was published in the UK as Prisoner's Progress (William Blackwood

William Blackwood

William Blackwood was a Scottish publisher who founded the firm of William Blackwood & Sons.Blackwood was born of humble parents in Edinburgh. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Edinburgh, and he followed his calling also in Glasgow and London for several years...

 1947) and in the US under the title Escaper's Progress (W. W. Norton 1955). A review at the time described the work as "one of the better escape books". In 1978, when the book was re-published in the UK in paperback as Escaper's Progress (Corgi

Random House

Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...

), his original account of the escape, as prepared for Naval Intelligence was included as an appendix, having become de-classified. This has again been republished by Pen & Sword Ltd.

In 1944 James joined Operation Tabarin

Operation Tabarin

During World War II, Operation Tabarin was a small British military expedition launched from the UK in 1943 to the Antarctic to establish permanently occupied bases.-Reasons for the expedition:There were several reasons for Tabarin...

, wintering in Graham Land

Graham Land

Graham Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in...

 in 1945. In consequence, the James Nunatak

James Nunatak

James Nunatak is a conical nunatak, 410 m, standing 5.5 miles south of Lewis Point on the east coast of Palmer Land. This feature was photographed from the air by members of the United States Antarctic Service in September 1940 and was probably seen by the USAS ground party that explored this...

 was named after him by The British Antarctic Survey, and also he was chosen to act as Polar Advisor to director Charles Frend

Charles Frend

Charles Frend was an English film director.Charles Frend started his career at British International Pictures in 1931 and after editing Hitchcock's Waltzes from Vienna moved to Gaumont British Pictures in 1933 where he worked as an editor on Alfred Hitchcock's movies Secret Agent , Sabotage and...

 for the 1948 production of Scott of the Antarctic

Scott of the Antarctic (1948 film)

Scott of the Antarctic is a 1948 film about Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated expedition to be the first to the South Pole in Antarctica in 1910-12...

, during which he appeared as John Mills

John Mills

Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...

' 'body double' in a number of long shots in the snow. Never one to miss a book opportunity, James wrote Scott of the Antarctic: The Film and Its Production which was published by Lon Convoy , followed a year later, in 1949, by That Frozen Land - The story of a year in the Antarctic.

James was asked by George G. Harrap and Co. to co-edit, with J Lennox Kerr, a book of wartime stories and experiences of RNVR members entitled Wavy Navy - By Some Who Served. (1950), and was then chosen by the daughter of Lord Roberts of Kandahar

Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, Bt, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, PC was a distinguished Indian born British soldier who regarded himself as Anglo-Irish and one of the most successful British commanders of the 19th century.-Early life:Born at Cawnpore, India, on...

 to write her father's biography, published by Hollis & Carter under the title Lord Roberts (1954).

In 1957 James wrote a book entitled Outward Bound

Outward Bound

Outward Bound is an international, non-profit, independent, outdoor educationorganization with approximately 40 schools around the world and 200,000 participants per year...

, with a foreword by the Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...

, about the organisation of the same name and in 1960 co-edited, with The Field

The Field (magazine)

The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...

 editor Wilson Stephens, In Praise of Fox Hunting, a series of essays by contributors such as Dick Francis

Dick Francis

Richard Stanley "Dick" Francis CBE was an English jockey and crime writer, many of whose novels centre around horse racing.- Personal life :...

, Jimmy Edwards

Jimmy Edwards

Jimmy Edwards DFC was an English comedic script writer and comedy actor on both radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in Take It From Here and as the headmaster 'Professor' James Edwards in Whack-O!-Biography:...

 and BBC show jumping

Show jumping

Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...

 commentator Dorian Williams.

In 1962, weeks before the birth of his youngest son Kenelm, he featured on This Is Your Life

This Is Your Life

This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...

, having been ambushed at Victoria Station by Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews, CBE , was an Irish television presenter based in the United Kingdom.-Life and career:...

 and his red book, getting off the train from his home town of Haywards Heath

Haywards Heath

-Climate:Haywards Heath experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Rail:Haywards Heath railway station is a major station on the Brighton Main Line...

.

Although born into a Church of England family, he was a director of Catholic publishing house Burns & Oates

Burns & Oates

Burns & Oates is a British Roman Catholic publishing house which now exists as an imprint of Continuum. It was founded by James Burns in 1835, originally as a bookseller...

, having been received into the church whilst a PoW.

He was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Brighton Kemptown from 1959

United Kingdom general election, 1959

This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...

 to 1964

United Kingdom general election, 1964

The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...

, when he lost, after a record 7 recounts, by just 7 votes to Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

's Dennis Hobden

Dennis Hobden

Dennis Harry Hobden was a British Labour Party politician.Hobden was a postal and telegraph worker who became an officer in the Union of Post Office Workers...

 (the first Labour MP for a Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 constituency). James was subsequently elected as MP for North Dorset in 1970

United Kingdom general election, 1970

The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...

 and he served as member for that seat until his retirement in 1979, when he was succeeded by Sir Nicholas Baker.

Always a firm believer in the existence of the Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....

, he co-founded the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau with naturalist Sir Peter Scott

Peter Scott

Sir Peter Markham Scott, CH, CBE, DSC and Bar, MID, FRS, FZS, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer and sportsman....

 in 1962. In the 1964 election

United Kingdom general election, 1964

The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...

 when he lost his Brighton seat, the narrowness of the result led to speculation that his stance on this 'issue' had been used against him by his political opponents, and may have proved decisive. His own view was that his campaign was sabotaged by extreme left wing infiltrators, in revenge for the assistance he had given to the exposure of ballot rigging in the Electrical Trades Union.

A collection of items related to this aspect of David James' life are on display at Torosay Castle

Torosay castle

Torosay Castle is a large house situated 1½ miles south of Craignure on the Isle of Mull, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides.It was designed by architect David Bryce for John Campbell of Possil in the Scottish Baronial style, and completed in 1858...

.

Subsequent to his death, his friend John Robson started work on his biography which was published under the title One Man In His Time (Spellmount Ltd. 1998).

External links