Brigadier-General James Foster Riddell (October 1861 – 26 April 1915) was a British Army officer who was killed on the Western Front whilst in command of the 149th (Northumberland) Brigade.

He served in the Hazara Expedition of 1888, where he was mentioned in despatches, and the following year was promoted to captain on 27 January 1890,[2] although this was later antedated to 18 November 1889.

Riddell served with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment, now the Northumberland Fusiliers, which embarked for South Africa in November 1899 and was placed in a brigade under General Sir William Gatacre.

[3] The war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging in June 1902, and the 2nd Battalion stayed in South Africa until January 1903, when Riddell commanded 357 officers and men who left Cape Town for home on the SS Aurania.

[11] He was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general on 5 August 1914,[12] the day after the British entry into World War I.