James Blanksby (1857 – 5 February 1924) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Burwood in Victoria to blacksmith William Blanksby and Millicent Holmes. He was a minister in the Primitive Methodist Church. On 11 April 1883 he married Elizabeth Irvine Penman, with whom he had six children.^[1] He resigned from the ministry to unsuccessfully run for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Newcastle West at the 1894 election, finishing 3rd with a margin of 160 votes (11.8%). He ran again 1895 election, but was narrowly defeated by the Labour candidate with a margin of 12 votes (1.1%).^[2] Later that year he became the manager of the Newcastle and Country Building Society,^[1] and was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council.^[3] He was generally considered a Free Trader, although one with Labour sympathies. He resigned from the Council in 1901 in order to become Secretary to the Miners' Accident Relief Board, a position he held until 1920. Blanksby died in Lakemba in 1924.^[1][4]