James Foster (9 May 1786 – 12 April 1853) was a prominent Worcestershire ironmaster, coalmaster and senior partner in the important iron company of John Bradley & Co, Stourbridge, which was founded by his elder half-brother but greatly enlarged under his direction.

[1] As well as the Stourbridge ironworks, the business owned a number of coal and ironstone mines, furnaces, forges and other works in the Black Country and near Ironbridge.

The business continued long after James Foster's death, ultimately being incorporated as John Bradley (Stourbridge) Ltd in the early 20th century.

He was also a banker and landowner as well as being elected Member of Parliament and appointed as Improvement Commissioner for Stourbridge, and High Sheriff of Worcestershire.

[10] In 1820s, Foster entered into a partnership with George Jones and John Barker, both of Wolverhampton, to construct the Chillington Ironworks.

[14] The first branch of the bank was sited at Park House just off Stourbridge High Street, which had been Foster's previous home.

[14] In 1844, James Foster was listed as being on the Committee of Management of the company that proposed to build the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.

[18] In 1865, Foster partnered with Canadian industrialist Hugh Ryan and contractor Alphonse Brooks as subcontractors on the Pictou branch of the Nova Scotia Railway.

[19] A brief profile of Foster in Griffiths' Guide to the Iron Trade of Great Britain, describes him as: "a most able and far seeing man, divested entirely of consequential airs and assumed superiority, endowed in a very remarkable degree with common sense; being afflicted with deafness, his manner sometimes appeared brusque, owing to his prompt and decisive answers.