Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a cooked sheep’s head [jemmy n.¹ (3)].

1827		W. Clarke Every Night Book 38: Hear us, great James — thou poetry of mutton! / Delicious profile of the beast that bleats— / Rich excellence of culinary treats .
1870		London Figaro 2 July n.p.: Club your pence, and you may attain to the glories of Osmazome and james – that is, of baked sheep’s head [F&H].

2. a housebreaker’s implement [play on the nickname Jemmy/jemmy n.³ (1)].

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 16 Oct. 1/1: James and the screw, without any ado / Will shove ’em all into a mess, Brave tools.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 382: The ‘james’ — a short crowbar — and the centrebit soon cleared away the obstruction of the shutter.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 503: I [...] guyed down a double before you could say Jack Robinson. It was a good job I did, or else I should have got lagged (sent to penal servitude) because I had the James (crowbar) and screws (skeleton keys) on me.
1887		‘Dagonet’ ‘A Plank Bed Ballad’ in Referee 12 Feb. n.p.: I pulled out a chive, but I soon came to grief, / And with screws and a james I was collared.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 184: ’Ere’s [...] a knife for the winder-ketch, an’ a little james, an’ a neddy.
1909		F.H. Tillotson How I Became a Detective 92: James – A jimmy; a small crowbar.
1923		J.C. Goodwin ‘Criminal Sl.’ in Sidelights on Criminal Matters 165: The scullery window was a stiff ’un but Bill had his James and Jemmy and we were soon in.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 109/2: James. Whimsical personification of jimmy.

3. (also jemmy) a sovereign, latterly a pound note [orig. use as 16C James Royal, a Scot. silver coin of James VI of Scotland (r.1567–1603), the sword dollar].

1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 69: S’elp me! if a mauley like that there ain’t worth a jemmy a day to a kenobe at wiring. Why, they’re just made for hooking a fogle out of a clye. [Ibid.] 365: The firm [...] was in the habit of pricing its ‘half-James’ and ‘James’ (i.e., half and whole sovereigns) at 2s. 10d. and 7s.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1886		Sporting Times 6 Mar. 1/1: The training bill [...] comes to three hundred ruddy and jangling Jameses.
1891		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 15 Oct. 6/4: The business will put a ‘quid’ or a ‘thick un’ or a ‘James’ in their ‘clyes,’ that is, if the ‘bossman’ hasn’t been ‘coopered’ (i.e. spoilt — learnt wisdom).
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 39: James, a pound.
1896		‘Thieves’ Sl.’ Gent.’s Mag. CCLXXXI Oct. 349: ‘James’ (a sovereign) perhaps dates from Stuart times.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: Bank notes are generally referred to as soft ’uns or flimsies, a five pound note being a finny, and a pound note a James.
1925		Western Mail (Perth) 28 May 21/1: [from Daily Mail, London] A sovereign had a lot of slang names [...] a portrait, a yellow boy, [...] a canary, a james, a couter, a foont, a poona [and] a bean.

4. (Aus.) a servant, a waiter.

1881

Bulletin (Sydney) 9 July 9/2: ‘Waitah, bring me some steak, chops, and cutlets and —ah, waitah —four boiled eggs.’ ‘Yes, your hon—yes sir,’ was the reply of the ever-ready James .

5. see john n.² (2a)