John Archibald Venn (10 November 1883 – 15 March 1958) was a British economist.

During the First World War he was a lieutenant for three years in the Cambridgeshire Regiment and then served as a statistician in the Food Production Department.

The Guyanese writer Arthur Seymour was visiting Venn in the Queens' College Presidential Lodge when Venn showed Seymour the proofs of Alumni Cantabrigienses.

Thirty years later the memory of seeing these proofs inspired Seymour to propose the creation of a Guyana National Encyclopedia modelled on the Australian National Encyclopedia.

Although Seymour failed to gain financial support for the project, Venn's example did inspire Seymour to publish two volumes of the Dictionary of Guyanese Biography which were published in 1984 and 1986.