James Knowles may refer to:

James Sheridan Knowles (1784–1862), Irish dramatist and actor

James Thomas Knowles (1806–1884), English architect

James Thomas Knowles (1831–1908), English architect and editor of The Nineteenth Century

James Knowles (aviator) (1896–1971), World War I ace

James Knowles (footballer, born 1881) (1881–1923), English footballer

James Knowles (lexicographer) (1759–1840), Irish schoolteacher and lexicographer, father of James Sheridan Knowles

Jim Knowles (American football) (born 1965), defensive coordinator at Tennessee

Jim Knowles (football manager), manager of Tranmere Rovers, 1936–1939

Jimmy Knowles (baseball) (1856–1912), baseball player

James Knowles (murderer), Ku Klux Klan member responsible for the lynching of Michael Donald

James Knowles III (born 1980), mayor of Ferguson, Missouri

James Hinton Knowles, British missionary to Kashmir

Jimmy Knowles (footballer) (born 2002), English footballer playing for Accrington Stanley F.C.