He certainly does. I've found further information out after looking at someone else's family tree.
It would seem that he is the reputed father of all 5 of Sarah's children - although there only seems to be one application for maintenance that I've found so far. He is the son of John and Elizabeth Holmes (nee Ullyatt) and was born about 1822 in Walcott. He died 29 May 1882 (not pre 1866 as believed to be according to Rosanna's marriage certificate but then I suppose that this is what she could have been told by her family).
Sometime between 1851 and 1858 Sarah and I presume her children moved to Sutton St James, Lincs -not sure if she was still seeing James - her last child was born here but she could have been pregnant at the time of moving, who knows? According to the source, Sarah died on 23 April 1860 in Sutton St Edmund, Lincs. This would then explain why her children are dotted all over the place in the 1861 census - mother dead and goodness about the father.
Would it be possible for someone to do some census looking up and see if they can find out what happened to James between 1841 and his death in 1882. it would be interesting to see whether he married, had children, remained a farmer, etc. The more and more I find out about him the more I feel for Sarah. She must have had a real thing for this chap as she reputably had 5 children with him between 1842 and 1858 so well over 10 years.
Thanks in advance