 In 1798 the younger William James started a new career as a land agent, initially managing the estate of the Dewes family of Wellesbourne Hall.He supervised estates in the West Midlands and beyond for, amongst others, the Dewes family of Wellesbourne Hall, Warwickshire; the Earl of Warwick, of Warwick Castle (but with property widely distributed); the Yates family of Lancashire; the Earl of Dartmouth at Sandwell Park, West Bromwich; the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth in London; and the Agar family of Lanhydrock House in Cornwall.James sought unsuccessfully for coal in East Sussex but successfully operated coal mines in his own right in south Staffordshire.