Arthur Lloyd James

This British surname is barrelled, being made up of multiple names. It should be written as Lloyd James, not James.

File:Photograph of Arthur Lloyd James.jpg (Derby Evening Telegraph 1941-01-15).jpg

Photograph of Arthur Lloyd James, printed in a 1941 issue of the Derby Evening Telegraph

Arthur Lloyd James (21 June 1884 – 24 March 1943) was a Welsh phonetician who was a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the linguistic adviser to the British Broadcasting Corporation. His research was mainly on the phonetics of English and French, but he also worked on the phonetics of Hausa and Yoruba. He committed suicide while a patient at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he was committed after killing his wife, the violinist Elsie Winifred Owen, in 1941.

Early life

Arthur Lloyd James was born on 21 June 1884, in Pentre, Glamorgan, Wales. His parents were William James, manager of a coal mine and a mining engineer, and Rachel James, née Clark. He went to school in Llanelli and then Pontypridd. Lloyd James graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1905, obtaining third-class honours in French. He taught for a few years and then went to Trinity College, Cambridge; his research centred on Old French and Provençal, and he graduated in 1910 with a degree in medieval and modern languages. He taught French and phonetics at Training College, and during World War I served with the Royal Engineers

Academic employment

Lloyd James became a lecturer in phonetics at University College, London in 1920. He became the first head of the School of Oriental Studies department of phonetics in 1927. He became a reader in 1930 and a professor in 1933. From 1924 to 1933, Lloyd James lectured at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Research

He wrote papers on the phonetics of various languages, including Yoruba, Hausa (with George Percival Bargery), Marathi (with S. G. Kanhere), and Pashto (with Georg Morgenstierne).

Work with the BBC

From 1926 to 1940, Lloyd James was the honorary secretary of the BBC's advisory committee on spoken English. In 1938, he was given the title of "Linguistic Adviser to the BBC".

Personal life

Arthur Lloyd James's wife was Elsie Winifred (1888/1889–1941). She was the daughter of the musician Luther Owen, and herself was a well known violinist and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. They had one child, David Owen Lloyd James.

Murder and trial

In 1941 the stress of World War II led Arthur Lloyd James to kill his wife, fearing the war would otherwise cause her hardship. The murder weapons were a fork and poker.

He was tried at the Central Criminal Court, with Mr. Justice Wrottesley presiding. The prosecutor was Mr. G. B. McClure, and Mr. Richard O'Sullivan, K.C. was the defence. Brixton Prison senior medical officer Dr. H. A. Grierson argued that Lloyd James had manic depressive insanity with a predominant depressive stage. Lloyd James pleaded not guilty; the jury found him guilty but insane.

Death

Arthur Lloyd James committed suicide on 24 March 1943, at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Crowthorne, Berkshire. He hanged himself with a necktie and scarf from a bar in his cell.

Further reading

• "Professor A. Lloyd James: An Authority on Phonetics" (Obituaries). The Times (London). 2 April 1943. (49510), col E, p. 7.

News articles on murder, trial, and suicide

• "B.B.C. Professor on Murder Charge: Wished His Wife to Die While Happy" (News). The Times (London). 16 January 1941. (48825), col E, p. 2.
• "Cause of Mrs. James's Death: Inquest Evidence of Blow on the Head" (News). The Times (London). 17 January 1941. (48826), col E, p. 9.