James Colton (12 May 1860 – 5 August 1936) was a Scottish anarchist, trade unionist and coal miner, who spent most of his life in Wales.

He was known for arranging a marriage of convenience with the anarchist activist and writer Emma Goldman in 1925, so that she could obtain British citizenship.

He first worked as a baker in Upper Boat, then later moved to Glanamman in the Amman Valley, where he became a miner at the Gelliceidrim Colliery.

[3] He first met Emma Goldman when she was giving a speaking tour in Edinburgh in 1895.

[4] Shortly after the death of Colton's first wife and knowing that Goldman needed British citizenship, after she had been deported from the United States in 1919, he proposed a marriage of convenience.