James Wadsworth (1572?–1623) was an English priest. He served in Suffolk before moving to Spain where he converted to Catholicism and became a Jesuit. He became an officer of the inquisition and later steward or agent to Sir Robert Shirley. On the marriage between Prince Charles I and Infanta Maria Anna, Wadsworth was appointed English tutor to the Infanta Maria. He died in 1623 and was buried at Madrid. His son, James, was an infamous Spanish military officer and turncoat.

Occupation: Catholic priest
Born: 1572
Died: 1623

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James Wadsworth (1572?–1623) was an English Catholic priest and Jesuit. Life Wadsworth was elected scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on 12 March 1584, admitted sizar in 1585, and graduated M.A. in 1593, B.D. in 1600. He was instituted in 1598 to the rectory of Pakefield in Suffolk, and from 1600 he held in addition, at any rate until 1603, the livings of Cotton and Thornham Magna in the same county. He was also chaplain in ordinary to William Redman, bishop of Norwich. In May 1605 he accompanied Sir Charles Cornwallis to Spain as chaplain; his brother Paul was consul in Andalusia. At Valladolid James fell under jesuit influence; in August of the same year he left the ambassador's house under pretext of a visit to the University of Salamanca, and never returned. Cornwallis, in letters to the Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 15 September 1605, suggested that family and financial problems had been the cause. Wadsworth became an officer of the inquisition in Seville, receiving from the king of Spain a pension of forty ducats a month. Five years later, in 1610, his wife and children arrived, and also joined the Catholic faith.

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