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Personal data
Name
James Cornwallis
Born February 25, 1743
Died January 20, 1824
Alias
Bishop of Lichfield
8th Baron Cornwallis
Biography

Son of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis (1700-1762) and Elizabeth Townshend (1698-1785). Brother of Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805), who was sometime Lord-Lieut. of Ireland and Commander in Chief in India. Married (1772) to Catherine Mann (1742-1811) in Lambeth Chapel.

Educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (1781-1824). Dean of Canterbury (1781-1824), Dean in commendam of Windsor (1791-1794), Dean in commendam of Durham (1794-1824).1  He became the fourth Earl and 8th Baron Cornwallis in 1823, following the death of his nephew Charles Cornwallis, the third Earl.

According to Brown (1953), James Cornwallis was "[a]n aristocratic nonentity who owed his promotion to his uncle Archbishop [of Canterbury] Frederick Cornwallis".2

Life with Boswell

Boswell met Cornwallis in the company of Sir James Macdonald and others in Oxford on April 23, 1763.