Sir James Wilsford or Wilford (about 1516–1550) was an English soldier and politician, who was commander at the Siege of Haddington in the war known as the Rough Wooing and also sat as Member of Parliament for Barnstaple.
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Origins
James Wilsford was born about the year 1516, the son of Thomas Wilsford (died 1553), a landowner at Hartridge in the parish of Cranbrook in Kent, and his first wife Elizabeth (died by 1531), daughter of Walter Culpeper, of Bedgebury in Kent. They had four sons and nine daughters. His father's second wife was Rose, daughter of William Whetenhall of Hextall's Court, Kent, with a further five sons and a daughter, Cecily (died 1584), who married Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York One of his brothers was the soldier and politician Sir Thomas Wilsford (died 1610).
In Scotland
Wilsford was a Provost Marshal at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh on 10 September 1547 and was subsequently knighted. Ulpian Fulwell wrote of Sir James in his Flower of Fame (1575);"He was so noble a capitaine, that he wonne the hartes of all Souldiers. He was in the towne among his Souldiers and friends, a gentle lamme. In the field amongst his enemies a Lyon.