Sir Charles James Renault Saunders KCMG (17 October 1857 – 11 January 1931) was a South African colonial civil servant who served as the Resident Commissioner and Chief Magistrate of Zululand. He was responsible for the annexation of the territory in Southern Africa then called British Maputaland (now called or the of KwaZulu-Natal). He set up magistracies in Ubombo and Ingwavuma. Kathleen Carola (died 1945), only daughter of the Lady Saunders of Melmoth and Sir Charles Saunders, married Philip Edward Laughton of Dundee. Sir Charles Saunders is buried Eshowe.