Sir James Pender, 1st Baronet

Sir James Pender, 1st Baronet (28 September 1841 – 20 May 1921) was a British businessman, yachtsman and Conservative Party politician. He was elected at the 1895 general election also sat as Member of Parliament for Mid Northamptonshire, and held the seat until his defeat at the 1900 general election.

Yachting In 1902 Pender won the King's Cup at the Royal Yacht Squadron regatta at Cowes with his yawl Brynhild (Charles E. Nicholson design, 1899), beating the Kaiser Wilhelm's schooner Meteor III (Archibald Cary Smith design, 1902); the prize was presented to him by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. It was rumoured at the time that the Prince gave up yacht racing in favour of horse racing (at which he was very successful) as his Yacht Britannia regularly lost to the Kaiser's yawl Meteor II (George Lennox Watson design, 1896). James Pender Bt was the Rear Commodore of Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1904, and during that year he won the Kaiserlicher Yacht Club regatta with Brynhild at the Kieler Yacht-Club and was presented with the prize by the Kaiser, who had anonymously (as he always used to at the Kiel Yacht Club) donated that prize to the Kiel Yacht Club in the name of 'A friend of Sailing'. In 1908, Pender's new Camper & Nicholsons 23mR Brynhild II defeated the Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock and Myles Burton Kennedy's White Heather II (both Fife designs) in the Cowes regatta and the King's Cup. James Pender's other yachts Lamorna and Florinda (later rechristened Gosport Mistake and Siesta) were all built and designed by Camper & Nicholsons.

Personal life Pender married Mary Rose Gregge-Hopwood of Hopwood Hall. They lived at Donhead House, Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire. Sir James Pender is buried with his wife Mary Rose at St Andrew's Church, Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire.