James read PPE at New College, after which he served with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers & Greys) in Germany and Northern Ireland before joining the Royal Yeomanry, in which he commanded its Kent & Sharpshooters Yeomanry, Westminster Dragoons and Berkshire Yeomanry squadrons. A chartered accountant by profession, he was finance director of a number of service industry companies and served as Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants.

He has been a trustee of many charities in the fields of housing, ex-service welfare, medicine and education, including Queen Mary’s Roehampton Trust, and, in Oxfordshire, Dr Radcliffe’s School Foundation, Defence Medical Welfare Services and the Orders of St John Care Trust. A former county Commander of St John Ambulance, he has held a variety of posts in the Order of St John. He also served substantial time on the Oxford Diocesan Synod and Bishop’s Council and, in the civil sphere, on Lower Heyford parish and Cherwell District councils and as a magistrate on the Oxfordshire Bench, serving as its chairman 2021-24. He has been a Deputy Lieutenant for the Oxfordshire Lieutenancy since January 2023. He is serving as Oxfordshire’s High Sheriff for 2024-25.

James has lived in Lower Heyford for over thirty years and has two, now grown up, children from his marriage to his late wife, Baroness Marcelle von Schoenberg, a consultant head and neck ENT surgeon. Now married to Victoria, daughter of former Oxfordshire High Sheriff Roger Goodenough, he also has two stepsons, one of whom is an Oxford University physicist.

James was sworn in as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire at a ceremony at Oxford Combined Court Centre on Wednesday 27 March 2024.

Contact details for James are: oxfordshire@highsheriffs.com

Twitter: @HSOxfordshire

About the High Sheriff

After the monarchy, the High Sheriff is the oldest secular office in the country dating back over 1000 years to Saxon times. Historically, the Sheriff was the principal representative of the Crown in the County. The Sheriff’s powers were considerable - collecting taxes, delivering judgements in the local courts, raising the “hue and cry” to catch criminals and being responsible for all the Crown’s land in the Shire. And until capital punishment was abolished, the Sheriff had to attend all public executions in the county.

Today, these former very extensive powers have gone. High Sheriffs are still appointed personally by the King as His Judicial Representative in the County and as such they continue to lend active support to all the judiciary, the police, the prison services and emergency services during their year of office. In addition to this, they support every aspect of community life in the county offering encouragement to the unsung heroes who work tirelessly for the countless local charities.

Nominations are made annually, with three names proposed and the final selection made by the Sovereign in March at a meeting of the Privy Council. The High Sheriff’s name is “pricked” with a bodkin through the vellum of the Sheriffs’ Roll. This tradition, dating back to Elizabeth 1, arises as the choice was not always wanted because of the cost implications. A hole in the vellum cannot be disguised, unlike a mark with the pen. High Sheriffs are unpaid and no part of the expense falls on the public purse.