James Needham (19 March 1849 – 14 July 1913) was an English mycologist and iron moulder from Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.

[1] Notable for his working-class status, Needham became one of the foremost collectors of fungi and bryophytes in the UK.

[3] Needham began studying botany after a trip to Hardcastle Crags with the Hebden Bridge Cooperative Society in 1885.

[3] Needham discovered the liverwort Jubula hutchinsiae in Hebden Valley in 1896.

[3] He was instrumental, along with Henry Thomas Soppitt, in the discovery of a heteroecious lifecycle in a Puccinia species.