James Riddle Thornton (February 22, 1853 – July 27, 1911) was an acting president of Hampden–Sydney College for two and a half weeks in 1904.

James Thornton had four brothers, two of which had notable careers: William M. Thornton — Professor of Applied Mathematics, Chairman of the Faculty, and Dean of Engineering at the University of Virginia; and Harrison R. Thornton — a teacher and missionary in Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska who was killed in 1893, the only missionary to Alaska slain by a native Alaskan.

[1] Thornton was the valedictorian, 1871 graduate of Hampden–Sydney College and also the principal of Prince Edward Academy in Worsham, Virginia from 1873 to 1881 and a professor of Latin at Central University (now Eastern Kentucky University) from 1881 to 1883.

[2] Thornton later went on to be a professor of mathematics, an Instructor of Engineering, and the Treasurer at Hampden–Sydney College for a total of twenty-five years, starting in 1884.

[2] He was a brother of Phi Kappa Psi and was the "Frater in Residence" while a professor at the college.