James Oatley

James Oatley (16 April 1817 – 31 December 1878) was an Australian politician.

Early life He was born in Sydney, the second son of Staffordshire watchmaker and ex-convict James Oatley and his wife Mary. His father had arrived in Sydney with a life sentence on the Marquis of Wellington in January 1815. His mother and newborn older brother arrived free on the Northampton in June 1815.

On 1 January 1839 he married Eleanor Johnson at Sydney and they later had nine children. He was apprenticed to John Urquhart, a coachbuilder of George Street. After his father's death in 1839, Oatley inherited substantial property including a Cooks River grant his father received in 1833, the location of the family estate, Snugborough Park. From 1844 he was the licensee of the Sportsman Hotel on the corner of Pitt and Goulburn streets. He retired in 1852 to devote himself to public affairs. He was a horse owner and a subscriber to the Homebush races.

Following the death of his first wife Eleanor, Oatley married Margaret Curtis on 29 September 1870 at St Peter's church, Cooks River, and they had one daughter. He was an alderman on Paddington Council and mayor in 1876 and 1877. He was a Royal Commissioner on the Inquiry into Berrima Gaol in 1878.