James, Charles Holloway 1893 - 1953

Charles Holloway James [commonly known as C.H. James] was born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, on 22 January 1893 and was articled to Walter B. Wood in Gloucester.  He then worked as assistant to Sir Edwin Lutyens from 1911 to 1914.

In 1916 he was seriously injured and lost a leg during World War One. For a short time he worked for Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin at Letchworth Garden City, before commencing practise as an architect in London in 1919.  In 1919, with Albert John Thompson (1878-1940) and Charles Murray Hennell (1883-1929) he formed the London-based architectural partnership Thomson, Hennell & James. Thompson left the practice the following year and the practice was renamed Hennell & James.

The first architectural projects by James and his practice were large housing schemes.  These included Swanpool Garden Suburb in Lincoln (1919-21); 27 houses at Thorpe Bay in Essex (1920-21); 80 houses for Labour Saving Houses, Ltd.;  200 houses for Wewlyn Rural District Council; and 38 houses for Country Homes, Ltd., at Welwyn Garden City, (1920-25); and 92 houses for the Lady Aster Housing Trust, Plymouth (1925). They also designed a paint factory in Hull (1920-21).

James designed three houses for himself in Hampstead Garden Suburb, beginning with No. 1 Hampstead Way in 1920.

After Hennell's death in 1929, James formed a new partnership with Stuart Frank Bywaters as James & Bywaters.  They were subsequently joined by Stephen Rowland Pierce (1896-1966) and the practice was renamed James & Bywaters and Rowland Pierce.  Projects by the partnership included Slough Town Hall (1936), City Hall in Norwich (1938), and Hertford County Hall (1940). The partnership was dissolved in 1947. It would seem that the practice reverted to its original name, James & Bywaters. This name was retained until 1963 when it became Saunders Boston Architects.

In addition to Thompson, Hennell, Bywaters and Pierce, James collaborated with a number of other architects including Louis de Soissons (1890-1962) at Welwyn. He jointly designed Oakwood Station with Charles Holden (1875-1960) on the Piccadilly Line  (1933).  

In 1922 James married the designer Margaret Calkin (1895-1985), subsequently known as Margaret Calkin James.   

James was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1918 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British architects (FRIBA) in 1926.  He was vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1947-48.  He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1937 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1946.

James's address was given as 19 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London in 1919 and 1923; 15 Gower Street, London in 1926; 33 Bedford Place, Bloomsbury Square, London in 1930; and 5 Bloomsbury Street, London in 1935 and 1939.  He died in Hendon, Middlesex on 8 February 1953.