James William Webb-Jones (1904–1965) was a Welsh choral conductor, educator, and cricketer.

James William, who was born in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales, ^[1] was the only child of the trans-European steamship agent ^{[2] [3] [4]} Ernest William Jones ^{[5] [6]} (1870 – 1941), ^[7] who was the owner of M. Jones and Brothers (est. 1856) ^{[2] [8]} and who was a first-class cricketer. ^[7] James William's mother was Aimée Elizabeth Parson (1873 – 1913), ^[5] who was the French-born daughter of James Holmes Parson who was a British merchant banker in Italy. ^[9] James William's parents were married at the British Consulate in Rouen, Haute Normandie, on 10 September 1900. ^[9]

James William's uncles included the gynaecologist Arthur Webb-Jones, ^[10] and Edwin Price Jones, who was Vice-Consul for Chile ^[11] and Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce. ^[2] James William was (through his cousin William (Bill) Wynn Jones ^[12] who was Anglican Bishop of Central Tanganyika) ^{[13] [14]} a cousin of the National Party conservative Naomi Wilson OAM (b. 1940). ^[15] James William descended (through his mother Aimée Parson) from the Georgian property-developer James Burton, who was the father of the architect Decimus Burton.

James William was educated at Cranleigh School, ^{[5] [16]} for which he played cricket, ^[17] and at Worcester College, Oxford, ^{[5] [16]} where he was Captain of Cricket. ^{[5] [16]} He later attended the University of Grenoble in France, ^{[5] [16]} where he received the Diplôme de Hautes Études. ^{[5] [16]}

James William's father Ernest, and his cousin William, and his son-in-law Peter, were members of the Jesters Cricket Club, ^[1] which was founded in 1928 by John 'Jock' Forbes Burnet (1910 - 1980) of St. Paul's School, London. ^[18] James William played for the Jesters, alongside his father, against the Eton College Servants, in 1931, and, alongside his cousin William, against Chertsey, also in 1931. ^[1]

• Assistant Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle, from 1928 to 1934. ^{[5] [16]}
• Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle, from 1934 to 1942. ^{[19] [5] [16]}
• He left St George's School in 1942, to serve in the Royal Air Force during World War II, from 1942 to 1945. ^{[5] [16] [20]}
• Housemaster, Wellington School, Somerset, from 1945 to 1950. ^{[5] [16]}
• Headmaster of Vanbrugh Castle School from 1951 to 1955. ^{[5] [16]}
• Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School from 1955 to 1964, ^{[5] [16]} where Peter Stanley Lyons was Director of Music from 1954 to 1960. ^[21]

James William married, at the Parish Church, Windsor, on 20 December 1930, ^{[6] [16]} Barbara Bindon ^[22] Moody ^{[16] [5]} (1903 - 1973), ^[22] of Emperor's Gate, South Kensington, ^[6] who was the daughter of Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks Moody CB and the granddaughter of Major-General Richard Clement Moody (who was the founder and the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia). James Webb-Jones and Barbara Moody had only one child, Bridget (b. 5 September 1937), ^{[5] [23]} who married the chorister Peter Stanley Lyons ^{[23] [16]} at Wells Cathedral in 1957. ^{[21] [24]} The godmother of Bridget Webb-Jones was Lady Walford Davies, ^[25] who was the wife of the composer Sir Henry Walford Davies KCVO OBE, who had been Master of the King's Music at St George's Chapel, Windsor, when James Webb-Jones had been Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle. Lady Walford Davies later married Julian Harold Legge Lambart, who was Vice-Provost of Eton College, for which Witham Hall School became a preparatory school. ^{[25] [26]}

James William and his wife, Barbara, retired to Witham Hall, ^[16] where his son-in-law Peter Stanley Lyons was Headmaster of the School. ^{[25] [21] [16]} Webb-Jones's hobbies were cricket, and fives, and fishing, ^[5] and wine. ^[16] Webb-Jones kept a wine store in the basement of Vanbrugh Castle, ^{[16] [27]} and died, possibly as a consequence of alcoholism, ^[16] at Witham Hall in 1965, and is buried at The Church of St. Andrew, Witham on the Hill. ^[16] His wife lived at Witham Hall until her death in 1973, after which she was buried next to her husband.

• "WEBB-JONES, James William (1904–1965)". Who's Who, Oxford Index. Oxford University Press.
• "Entry for James William Webb-Jones, Headmasters of Vanbrugh Castle School, Vanbrugh Castle School".
• "Profile for James William Webb-Jones, Vanbrugh Castle School".
• "Entry for Jones, M., & Brother, Steamship Agents, Who's Who in Business (1914)".