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19 Sept. 1884–9 Apr. 1968

College yearbook photo of James Winston Horner, 1904. Image from Digital NC.
College yearbook photo of James Winston Horner, 1904. Image from Digital NC.
James Horner Winston, attorney, was born at Oxford, the son of Robert Watson, an eminent jurist, and Sophronia Horner Winston. After attending the Durham Grade School and Horner Military School in Oxford, he entered The University of North Carolina, where he was captain of the tennis team and a member of Zeta Psi social fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Order of Gimghoul. He was graduated with a B.A. degree in 1904. In the same year Winston achieved great distinction when he became the first Rhodes Scholar to be named from North Carolina. He studied at Oxford University from 1904 to 1907, when he was awarded the B.A. degree in jurisprudence from the law school.

Returning to the United States, Winston began to practice law at Norfolk, Va., in 1907. He moved to Chicago in 1911 to join the firm of Winston, Strawn, and Shaw. In 1947 he became associated with Miller, Gorham, Wescott, and Adams, where he remained until his retirement in 1953. Known as an authority on tax and antitrust law, he was a member of the American, Illinois, and Chicago bar associations. A prominent figure on the Chicago scene, Winston was a member of numerous organizations including the University Club of Chicago (of which he was president), Chicago Club, Law Club, Legal Club, Old Elm Country Club, and Indian Hill Golf Club. In addition, he served for many years on the selection committee for the Rhodes Trust. He was a Democrat and an Episcopalian.

On 26 Nov. 1908 Winston married Laura M. Flanagan of Chicago. They had four children: Robert W. III, Virginia (m. Herbert C. DeYoung), Albert F., and Laura Janet (m. Robert B. Wilcox). Following the death of his first wife in 1947, Winston married, on 19 Mar. 1949, Carita Reiss Bachmann of Sheboygan, Wis. There were no children of the second marriage. Winston died in Evanston, Ill.

References:

Alumni Files (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).

Daniel L. Grant, Alumni History of the University of North Carolina (1924).

William S. Powell, ed., North Carolina Lives (1962).

Additional Resources:

"Necrology. '04." The Alumni Review 56, no. 8 (May 1968). 16. http://www.carolinaalumnireview.com/carolinaalumnireview/196805?pg=18#pg18

"London center has historic ties." Carolina Arts & Sciences Spring 2006. 27. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/carolina-arts-sciences-2006-spring/2602258 (accessed March 27, 2013).

Robert W. Winston Papers, 1826-1944 (collection no. 02369). The Southern Historical Collection. Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/w/Winston,Robert_W.html (accessed March 28, 2013).

Winston, James Horner. Race destiny: a Southern view. 1904. English Thesis (B.A.)/ "Senior Oration." University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Winston, James Horner. Judah P. Benjamin, distinguished at the bars of two nations: An address delivered before the Law club of Chicago on March 22, 1929. Chicago: The La Salle Street Press, Hawkins & Loomis Co. 1930.

Image Credits:

"Winston, James Horner ... Durham, N.C." Photograph. Yackety Yack. 1904 27. Digital NC. North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/ref/collection/yearbooks/id/1476 (accessed March 28, 2013).

Citation

Moore, James Elliott. "Winston, James Horner." NCpedia. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 25th, 2024. https://ncpedia.org/biography/winston-james-horner.