Frank Linsly James

Who was Frank Linsly James?

Frank Linsly James FRGS was an English explorer. He was the son of American parents: Liverpool based merchant Daniel James and Sophia Hall James.

He was born and raised in Liverpool; the 1861 census shows him living at his parents home Oakwood House, Elmswood Road, Aigburth, Liverpool. The 1871 census shows him again living at his parents home, but now at Beaconsfield House, Woolton, occupation "Under Graduate, Cambridge". In 1890 his home was 14 Great Stanhope Street, in the county of Middlesex.

James explored in Sudan, Somalia, India and Mexico often using his private yacht Lancashire Witch, often accompanied by one or both of his brothers - John Arthur James and William Dodge James. After Frank's death Willie James used the Lancashire Witch for a period. The yacht was formerly used by Sir Thomas Hesketh. In 1894 the Lancashire Witch was purchased by the Admiralty and became the survey vessel HMS Waterwitch.

Frank James wrote Wild Tribes of the Sudan and The Unknown Horn of Africa. He was killed in Gabon, West Africa by a wounded elephant. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, exhumed in 1917 and re-interred in the family plot at West Dean, West Sussex.