James Small FRSE MRIA (1889–1955) was a 20th-century British botanist and botanical author.
He refused to attend the graduation ceremony on the grounds that he was a supporter of "the advanced section of suffragists" and "could not conscientiously allow myself to be presented to any member of the present Government without making a protest against the shameful treatment of those who are fighting for what is conceded on every hand to be their rights" (Birkbeck archives).
He was injured in July 1916 and invalided out, ironically allowing him to pursue his academic aims.
In 1917 he began lecturing on Botany at the Pharmaceutical Society in London, obtaining a doctorate (DSc) in 1919.
He published two papers with a QUB graduate, Margaret Williamson Rea, in 1921 and 1927.