Born at Nottingham, James Bardsley received his medical education at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where he was president of the Royal Medical Society. In 1823 he settled in Manchester, the city with which he was to be associated throughout his career. He was appointed physician to the Infirmary, a position formerly occupied by his uncle, Dr. Samuel Argent Bardsley, and lecturer at the School of Medicine. A practical man, rather than one of intellectual attainments, he concerned himself with the organisation of the medical profession in Manchester. He was elected, in 1834, president of the Manchester Medico-Ethical Association. Although a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire, he took little interest in public affairs.

G H Brown

[Lancet, 1876; Medical Times and Gazette, 1876; D.N.B., iii, 176]