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.