James Rodway (February 27, 1848 – November 19, 1926) was a British-born historian, botanist and novelist of British Guiana. Considered British Guiana's premier historian, Rodway helped to establish national institutions such as the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana and the British Guiana Museum. A Fellow of the Linnean Society, in later years he served as Editor of the colony's literary and scientific journal, Timehri.
Rodway is the namesake of both a sub-species of Violaceous Euphonia – Euphonia Violacea Rodwayi, as named by Thomas Edward Penard – and the Gold Tetra, or Hemigrammus Rodwayi, named by Marion Durbin Ellis.
A History of British Guiana, from 1668 to the Present Time, Guiana: British, Dutch and French and Hand-book of British Guiana are considered some of Rodway's major works. In Guiana Wilds: A Story Of Two Women (1899), Rodway's only novel, is noted as one of the earliest works of fiction to emerge from the nation.
Rodway's works were instrumental in aiding the case for the British government against Venezuela during the Venezuelan Crisis of 1895.
