Thomas James was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 at various times between 1597 and 1614.

James was the son of William James of Wollaston. He became a merchant of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 and and was Sheriff in 1591. In 1597, he was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Bristol

Bristol (UK Parliament constituency)

Bristol was a two member constituency, used to elect members to the House of Commons in the Parliaments of England , Great Britain and the United Kingdom . The constituency existed until Bristol was divided into single member constituencies in 1885.-Boundaries:The historic port city of Bristol, is...

. He was elected MP for Bristol again in 1604 and was also mayor of Bristol in 1605. In 1614 he was re-elected MP for Bristol.

James died in 1615 and is commemorated in St Mary's Church, Bristol.

James married at Almesbury. He may have been the father of Thomas James

Thomas James (sea captain)

Captain Thomas James was an English sea captain, notable as a navigator and explorer, who set out to discover the Northwest Passage, the hoped for ocean route around the top of North America to Asia....

, the Arctic explorer.