James Edwards Sewell

"The Shirt". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1894.

James Edwards Sewell (25 December 181029 January 1903) was an English academic, Warden of New College, Oxford, from 1860 to 1903.

Life Sewell was born on Christmas Day 1810, at Newport, Isle of Wight, where his father Thomas Sewell practiced as a lawyer. He was the youngest son of a large family, and was educated at Winchester College and New College. In 1830 he became a Fellow of New College, and practically passed the rest of his life there, being elected to the headship in 1860. having been warden of the college for 43 years, and was interred in the college cloisters.

Family His brother Henry Sewell became the first premier of New Zealand. Another brother, William Sewell, was a writer, as was sister Elizabeth Missing Sewell. His brother Richard Clarke Sewell was a barrister and later reader in law to the University of Melbourne and author of a large number of legal works.