James Henderson (26 November 1823 – 24 February 1906) was a British newspaper and magazine proprietor and publisher, who was influential in developing the popular press and comics in Britain.

He found that there was little demand for a daily newspaper, but that "what was wanted was a weekly paper which, whilst giving a certain amount of news, should contain a considerable proportion of light amusing reading.

[7] Another contributor to Young Folks was Alfred Harmsworth, who wrote nearly 80 articles for the magazine and later founded the Daily Mail.

[8] Writer Denis Gifford considered Funny Folks to be the first British comic,[9] though at first it tackled topical and political subjects along the same lines as Punch.

The magazine was heavily illustrated, with cartoons by John Proctor among others,[7] and benefitted from innovations in the use of cheap paper and photo-zincography printing.

Henderson also published the popular magazine Nuggets, which featured cartoons and stories about a fictional family of Irish immigrants in London, the Hooligans, which would now be considered examples of anti-Irish bigotry.

Hendersons continued as a company producing comics, books, greetings cards and postcards until 1920, when the business was taken over by Harmsworth's Amalgamated Press and went into voluntary liquidation.