Born about 1442, he was the son of John FitzJames (died 1476), who lived at Redlynch in Somerset, and his wife Alice Newburgh.

He was nominated to the see of Rochester on 2 January 1497 and consecrated on 21 May 1497, being translated to the see of Chichester on 29 November 1503.

[4] He died in London on 15 January 1522,[5] and was buried in a tomb he had prepared for himself in the nave of Old St Paul's Cathedral,[1] with his arms being depicted on the ceiling.

[1] He probably commissioned wooden panelling,[7] originally for the Bishop of London's Palace at Fulham, which, eventually, became a screen now displayed in the Parish Church of St Andrew and St Cuthman in Steyning, West Sussex.

It commemorates the wedding of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, bearing the Royal Arms and Catherine's pomegranates, as well as Richard FitzJames Coat of Arms and the date 1522.