James Pitt was an 18th-century English journalist and deist. James Pitt (fl. 1714-1755) was a former schoolmaster who, under the pen name of "Francis Osborne", wrote political propaganda for the Whig government. He also wrote many Christian deist articles under the pen names of "Socrates" and "Publicola". These articles were lead article and often the only original article in one of England's most popular newspapers, the London Journal. His paper sold 5,000 copies a week and, because of the way newspapers were consumed in that time, it has been estimated he may have been read or heard by as many as a hundred thousand people each week. Furthermore, many of his Christian deist writings were republished in Benjamin Franklin's American newspaper.