Description compiled by Robert Steiner, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives.
William Rhodes James (d. c.1847) married Caroline Pope (fl.1814-1855). The children of the marriage included Herbert (1822-1909), William Rhodes, Montagu (1830-1854), and Thomas (d.1850). Herbert James married Mary Emily Horton, daughter of Admiral Joshua Sydney Horton, and became rector of Livermere, near Bury St. Edmonds. They had four children, Sydney Rhodes (1855-1934), who married Linda Hoare, Herbert Ellison Rhodes (1857-1939), Grace Caroline Rhodes (c.1860-1936), who became Mrs. Woodhouse in 1910, and Montague Rhodes (1862-1936), who became a biblical scholar, antiquary and palaeographer.
1. Letters from her eldest son, William Rhodes James, in Edinburgh, 1836-1838, with one from W.R. James to his father, William Rhodes James (no.9).
2. Letters from her third son, Montagu, mainly from various East India Company stations, 1844-1853.
3. Letters from four of her other children, 1835-c.1853.
4. Miscellaneous letters to Caroline James, 1837-1854, mainly concerning her son, Montagu, with drafts of two of her replies (4 and 14).
5. Family letters and miscellanea kept by Caroline James, 1840-c.1854.
Letters and miscellanea, 1847-1854.
1-51. Letters, mainly to Mary Emily James, from her brother, William Horton, 1837-1849. Nos. 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, and 26 are to their mother, 49 is possibly to another sister
52. Letter to Mary Emily James from her sister-in-law, Anna Maria Horton, post-1857.
53-54. Letters to Mary Emily James from her husband, Herbert, 1876.
55. Letters to Mary Emily James from her son, Sydney Rhodes James, 1865.
56. Letter to Mary Emily Janes from William Cantis of Canterbury, undated.
1. Letters from Herbert James's brothers and sisters, c.1840-1851.
2. Letters from Herbert James's wife, Mary Emily, 1854-1876.
3. Letters from Sydney Rhodes James (1, 2, and 4-6) and Grace Rhodes (James) Woodhouse (3).
4. Correspondence concerning Montague Rhodes James's school career at Temple Grove Preparatory School (1-46) and at Eton (47-75).
5. Miscellaneous correspondence, 1842-1905.
6. Letters from Montague Rhodes James, c.1873-1906 (1-69 while at Temple Grove, and 70-175 while at Eton). These include M.R. James's letters to his mother and to the family as a whole.
1. Letters from Herbert James to Montague Rhodes James, 1874-1909.
2. Letters from Mary Emily James to Montague Rhodes James, 1874-1898.
3. Correspondence between Sydney Rhodes James and Linda James and Montague Rhodes James. Nos. 1-5 are from M.R. James to Sydney James, c.1873-1889; 6-7 from Herbert James to Sydney James, 1879 and 1889; 8-37 from Sydney Rhodes to M.R. James, c.1870-1918; and 38-44 from Linda James to M.R. James, 1904-1905.
4. Correspondence between Herbert Ellison Rhodes James amd M.R. James. No.1 is from M.R. James to H.E.R. Rhodes, c.1881; 2 from Sydney James to H.E.R. James, 1905; 3-26 from H.E.R. to M.R. James, 1876-1918; and 27 from H.E.R. James to the James family.
5. Correspondence between Grace Caroline Rhodes (James) Woodhouse and M.R. James. Nos. 1-25 are from M.R. James to Grace Woodhouse, c.1874-1905; 26 from H.E.R. James to Grace Woodhouse, 1874; 27 from Herbert James to Grace Woodhouse, 1878; and 28-61 from Grace Woodhouse to M.R. James, 1875-1905.
Presented by the executors of the late Dr M.R. James, 1954.
Open for consultation by holders of a Reader's Ticket valid for the Manuscripts Reading Room.
Additional Manuscripts Catalogue.
Cambridge University Library also holds sermons, lectures and addresses of Montague Rhodes James, MS.Add.7484 and 7485.