Charles Denby Jr. (November 14, 1861 – February 15, 1938) was an American diplomat in China and later in Vienna, Austria-Hungary and was known as one of the top scholars of Chinese language and culture of his time.

His maternal grandfather, Graham N. Fitch was a United States representative and Senator.

After increasing incidents of riots against missionaries in China (such as the ones in 1891 in Nanjing and Yichang and 1895 in Chengdu) he became a supporter of a stronger US government support of American missionaries in China (cf.

In 1900, he was appointed as secretary general of the provisional government in Tianjin, China during the Boxer Rebellion, and then from 1902 to 1905 he served as the chief foreign adviser to the Viceroy of Zhili, Yuan Shikai.

From 1915 to 1917 he served as president of Hupp Motor Car Company in Detroit.