The font comes from St Mary's, Littlehampton, which was rebuilt in 1934. It was mentioned in the sermon given by the Bishop upon the dedication of St Mary's in 1934 (Littlehampton Gazette, 18 May 1934, 5) and was photographed inside St Mary's by G. C. Druce in 1947 (Historic England Archive, red boxes). At that time the font was positioned on the floor, without the columnar stem or plinth.
In 2018 St James closed for worship, and in 2020 the parish was amalgamated with that of St Mary the Virgin, which became the church of St Mary & St James.
