James T. Woodward was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 banker and owner of a major thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse dynasty.

Background

James T. Woodward was the second child born to Henry Williams Woodward and Mary Edge Webb at Edgewood Plantation in Gambrills Station, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Anne Arundel County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is named for Anne Arundell , a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England and the wife of Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state...

.

While his family gathered tremendous wealth during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 by selling textiles to the Confederates

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

, James spent the war years in school.

Woodward moved to New York after the war and took a job at Ross, Campbell & Company where his business acumen was recognized. He became a director in the Hanover National Bank in the early 1870s. In 1877, his brother William Woodward (who founded the New York Cotton Exchange

New York Cotton Exchange

The New York Cotton Exchange was a commodities exchange founded in 1870 by a group of one hundred cotton brokers and merchants at 1 Hanover Square in New York City.- History :...

) and he pooled their funds and bought a large portion of the bank. James was elected president of the bank the same year. Under his leadership the deposits of the bank grew from $6,000,000 to $100,000,000.

Pursuits

Woodward was a bachelor his entire life, but was active socially. He joined many elite clubs including the Union Club, the Metropolitan Club

Metropolitan Club

The Metropolitan Club is a private social club in New York City. It was formed in 1891 by J.P. Morgan, who served as its first president. Other original members included William K. Vanderbilt and James Roosevelt. Its 1912 clubhouse, designed by Stanford White, stands at 1-11 East 60th Street, on...

, the Knickerbocker Club

Knickerbocker Club

The Knickerbocker Club , is a gentlemen's club in New York City founded in 1871. Its current location, a neo-Georgian structure at 2 East 62nd Street, was commissioned in 1913. It was designed by William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich...

 and the Maryland Club of Baltimore.

An avid hunter and horseman, Woodward purchased the historic Belair Mansion

Belair Mansion

The Belair Mansion, located in Collington, Maryland, United States, was built in circa 1745 as the Georgian plantation home of the Provincial Governor of Maryland, Samuel Ogle...

 and Stud

Belair Stud

Belair Stud was an American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm founded by Provincial Governor of Maryland, Samuel Ogle in 1747 in Collington, Prince Georges County, Maryland in Colonial America.-Colonial Period:...

 farm in 1898.

James maintained residences in New York, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

 as well as at Belair. During this time, he developed a very close relationship with Saint John's College

St. John's College, U.S.

St. John's College is a liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1696 as a preparatory school, King William's School, the school received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher...

 in Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

 and was elected to its board of visitors. Woodward invested significantly in both repairing Belair and expanding St. John's during this time. In June 1909, St John's gave the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to Woodward in recognition of
his extensive contribution to the school.

Woodward regularly attended services at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and was a frequent hunter.

Legacy

Woodward died in 1910 having never married. His nephew, wealthy lawyer and banker, William Woodward, Sr.

William Woodward, Sr.

William Woodward, Sr. was an American banker and major owner and breeder in thoroughbred horse racing.-Background:...

 was his sole heir and inherited the estate in 1910. The inheritance tax of $3,200 was the largest ever paid in Prince Georges County at that time.

Woodward Hall houses the library at St. John's College, named in his honor.