James Macnamara

James Macnamara CStJ TD VR JP DL has been a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire since 2023. He is part of the Lieutenancy team focused on Cherwell and is the Lieutenancy’s link to the villages in northeast Cherwell. He holds the Lieutenancy’s judiciary and magistrates brief for the County.

James was educated at New College, Oxford, after which he served with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) in Germany and Northern Ireland before joining the Royal Yeomanry. He commanded the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry, Westminster Dragoons and Berkshire Yeomanry Squadrons. A chartered accountant by profession, he has been Finance Director of numerous service industry companies and served as Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants (2010–11).

Outside of work, James has been a trustee of many charities in the fields of housing, ex-service welfare, medicine, and education, including Queen Mary’s Roehampton Trust and, in Oxfordshire, Dr Radcliffe’s School Foundation, Defence Medical Welfare Services, and the Orders of St John Care Trust. A former County Commander of St John Ambulance, he has held a variety of posts in the Order of St John. He also served substantial time on the Oxford Diocesan Synod and Bishop’s Council and, in the civil sphere, on Lower Heyford Parish and Cherwell District councils and as a magistrate on the Oxfordshire Bench, serving as its Chairman for three years from 2021. James currently serves as Oxfordshire’s High Sheriff.

James lives in Lower Heyford with his wife Victoria.