About Us

John Thomas James

12 Jan 1863 – 15 May 1928 | Arrived in Sydney, from England in 1884.

John, known to his relatives and friends as “Jack”, in 1894, married Josephine Boake, his first wife, while working as manager of Lasseter’s Hardware Department. In 1895 Jack left that company and established, on his own, J. James & Co. Hardware Merchants. He purchased the three buildings numbers 50, 52, 54 Hunter Street, Sydney. His first wife died in 1906, leaving Jack with his six children less then 12 years of age.

In 1909 he married Mildred Hagan and in 1910 took a business trip to the U.K. with her. The first of two children from this marriage was born 1911. In about 1915 Jack’s eldest son Frank, a teenager, joined the business with his father.

In 1923, when work started on Parliament House, in Canberra, J. James & Co. won the contract to supply the brass door furniture (handles, locks, hinges and “Hunter” branded footplates) that can be identified today.

In 1926 his eldest daughter, Emily, traveled with her Father and step-mother, Mildred, on a business trip to America and Canada. John became ill on a voyage back from Vancouver and died in Sydney on 15 May 1928.