James Steuart Shanks (his middle name was often spelled Stewart; March 1835 – 13 October 1911) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Southland region, New Zealand.
His father was James Steuart Shanks Sen. (1800–1871); he died at Tuturau.
The family emigrated to New Zealand and arrived in Dunedin on 20 November 1849 on the Kelso when he was aged 14.
He initially worked in Balclutha and then Clinton as a sawmiller and felling trees.
[2] Following the resignation of William Wood from parliament, Shanks stood in the January 1879 Mataura by-election and defeated Andrew Kinross.