Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Sewell, James Edwards
SEWELL, JAMES EDWARDS (1810–1903), warden of New College, Oxford, born at Newport, Isle of Wight, on 25 Dec. 1810, was seventh child and sixth son of Thomas Sewell, solicitor, of Newport, by his wife Jane, daughter of Rev. John Edwards, curate of Newport. He was one of a family of twelve, which included Richard Clarke Sewell, legal writer [q. v.], William Sewell, divine [q. v.], Henry Sewell, first premier of New Zealand [q. v.], and Elizabeth Missing Sewell [q. v. Suppl. II], authoress. Admitted a scholar of Winchester College in 1821, James became a probationary fellow of New College, Oxford, in 1827, and a full fellow in 1829. He graduated B.A. in 1832, proceeding M.A. in 1835, B.D. and D.D. in 1860, and was ordained deacon in 1834 and priest in 1836. Except for a few months in 1834-5, when he was curate to Archdeacon Heathcote [q. v.] at Hursley, he resided in New College from 1827 to his death in 1903. He filled successively every office in the college, and in 1860 was elected warden. He took a large part in university affairs, was the first secretary of the Oxford local examinations delegacy, and from 1874 to 1878 was vice-chancellor. He actively aided in the preservation and arrangement of the MS. records in the library of the college. The chief share in the growth of New College during his long wardenship is to be attributed to his colleagues, but Sewell loyally accepted changes which did not commend themselves to his own judgment. It was largely owing to him that there was no break in the continuity of college tradition and feeling, and that older generations of Wykehamists were reconciled to the reforms made by successive commissions and by the college itself, Sewell died unmarried in the warden's lodgings. New College, on 29 January 1903, and was buried in the cloisters of the college. A portrait by Sir Hubert von Herkomer (which has been engraved) hangs in the hall of New College. A cartoon portrait by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1894. Sewell compiled a list of the wardens and fellows of New College, with notes on their careers; the MS. is preserved in the college library.
[The Sewells of the Isle of Wight, by Mountague Charles Owen (privately printed); Rashdall and Rait's New College (Oxford College Histories); New College, 1856-1906, by Hereford B. George, 1906.]