James Allanson Picton (8 August 1832 – 4 February 1910) was a British independent minister, author, philosopher and Liberal politician.

There he gave a course of popular lectures to the working classes, but one of his sermons revived the allegation of heresy and in 1862 he went to Gallowtree Gate chapel, Leicester.

In 1869 he became pastor of St. Thomas's Square chapel, Hackney where he upset orthodox members by delivering lectures on secular themes such as English history and the principles of radical and conservative politics on Sunday afternoons to the working classes.

He was very small in stature, but possessing good oratorical powers, and retaining the manner of the pulpit, he always won the ear of the House of Commons, where he was known as a sincere advocate of extreme views.

[6] In his book The Mystery of Matter, Picton considered the universe as a manifestation of an infinite energy with the God of Christianity as substantially identical.