This article is part of a series of brief lifestories of the Champ family. James was the youngest child of James Champ and Eliza Moody of Downton, Wiltshire. See project bibliography.

James Champ, the youngest son of James Champ and Eliza Moody, was baptised on the 14th of December, 1846. Less than five years later, his father passed away at the age of 53.

Later, as a young man, James Champ married 19 year-old Mary Ann Green in 1868. She was daughter of a sawyer named John Green. That same year, James and Mary Ann had a son, whom they named Edwin John (better known as John).

Tried in January 1870

Sometime later, James Champ was accused of stealing holly from the New Forest, which belonged to the monarch. Harry Cooper, a forest-keeper, gave the following testimony in court:

On December 20, 1869, Harry Cooper saw James Champ, Mark Crook and Alfred Newman loading holly into a cart at Brook-hill. Cooper saw a head of holly that had just been cut and compared it with a stump in the ground. They matched. Cooper also saw that other heads of holly had been severed.

Realising that they had been caught red-handed, Champ, Crook and Newman tried to flee with the cart as fast as possible. But Cooper chased them on his horse.

Cooper overtook the cart and demanded that the suspects give him more holly, but Champ refused to do so. Instead, Champ said to Newman: “Come on; we’ll get away from him; whip away!”

Realising that the men were not going to stop, Cooper dismounted and seized their horse. In doing so, Cooper fell down on the road and was nearly run over by the suspects’ cart. So they escaped from him.

Champ, Crook and Newman continued driving the cart for a mile or more until they found a place where they could hide by the side of a forest cover near the road. Cooper afterwards caught up with them. He noticed that they had rearranged the load on the cart.

Cooper went into the forest cover and found four or five large heads of holly that had been hidden. So Cooper compared them with the stumps at the site where Champ, Crook and Newman had been loading holly into the cart. They fitted exactly.

Champ claimed that he had purchased the holly. But George Cullimore, the woodman, proved that he had only purchased forty bundles of sticks.

Champ, Crook and Newman were put on trial. Crook claimed to be an employee of Champ, and so the charge against him was dropped. But Newman was to be either fined 10 shillings or imprisoned for 14 days. Champ was to be either fined 40 shillings or imprisoned for one month.

Cooper also stated that on the 23rd of December, three days after the aforementioned incident occurred, he saw James Champ and his brother Charles stealing holly in Ravens’-nest, Bramble-hill Walk, in the New Forest. George Cullimore the woodman stated that he saw Charles sawing off the holly and James operating a light spring van which they were using to transport the stolen goods. Cooper stated that the damage they caused amounted to the value of 6 pence.

Charles was fined 10 shillings. But because James had been heavily fined for the previous offence, he was not fined again for this incident.

Death of First Wife, Remarriage

Around this same time, James’ wife died in early 1870, at the age of just 21. He was now a single father with a young son to care for. At the time of the 1871 census the following year, James and his son John were living with his mother, Eliza. James was working as an agricultural labourer at the time. Meanwhile, Eliza likely took care of young John, and may have become like a second mother to him.

Finally, in 1878, James remarried to Harriet Barnes. On the 25th of May the following year, their son George was born.

By the time of the 1881 census, James and his family had moved to Westbury-on-Trym, Gloucestershire, where James was working as a sawyer. The family had another son, Richard, who was 6 months old. James and Harriet would eventually have nine more children: Florence Louisa, Minnie, Emily, Nelly, James Charles, Rosina, Alice, William and Arthur.

By the time of the 1891 census, the family was living in Cadoxton-Juxta-Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, where James continued working as a sawyer. The youngest child at the time was James Charles, aged 1. The family was still living in Glamorgan 20 years later, in 1911, at which time James Charles, now aged 21, was working at an iron foundry.

James Champ died in early 1923 at the age of about 77.