Landowner and politician; fourth son of John Macarthur and Elizabeth Macarthur.
James Macarthur wrote New South Wales : Its Present State and Future Prospects : Being a Statement, with Documentary Evidence, Submitted in Support of Petitions to His Majesty and Parliament published in London by D. Walther in 1837. A detailed review of this work with extracts appears in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 14 November 1837. Advertisements in the 11 November 1837 and subsequent issues of the Gazette announce that a copy of the work 'should be gratuitously furnished to each of those Gentlemen who subscribed in aid of the Petitions to the King and House of Commons'. The advertisements are signed by George Cavanagh, the editor of the Sydney Gazette, as Secretary of the Petitions Committee and copies were held at the Gazette office.
