James Tait, FBA (19 June 1863 – 4 July 1944) was an English medieval historian.
With Thomas Frederick Tout, he was the second major figure in the "Manchester School of History".
[1] He was born in Broughton, Salford, on 19 June 1863, the son of Robert Ramsay Tait, a seed merchant, and his wife Annie Case.
He then studied at Balliol College, Oxford under Arthur Lionel Smith, and obtained a first class degree in 1887.
[3] Tait's major works were Mediaeval Manchester and the Beginnings of Lancashire (1904), the first volume of the history series of Manchester University Press and a standard work for the rest of the century, and The Medieval English Borough (1936).