William James (railway promoter)

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William James, born 13 June 1771 at Henley-in-Arden, England, died 10 March 1837 at Bodmin, England, was a land agent and surveyor who in 1821 made the original survey for the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Although he was assisted in the work by George Stephenson’s son Robert, his route was not accepted by the promoters and it was George Stephenson who completed the line, using information from James’s survey. James then drew up visionary plans for a national rail network, to be worked by Stephenson's locomotives, but these too were not followed and in 1823 he suffered bankruptcy and imprisonment.

It was not until eight years after his death, when it had become plain that Britain would have a national network of railways rather than merely a collection of lines to serve local needs, was his work recognised; a public subscription, endorsed by such engineers as Brunel, Rennie and Locke, was instituted to support his family.