James Stuart (c. 1681 – 3 April 1743), of Torrance, Lanarkshire, was a Scottish officer in the British Army and a politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1734 and 1741.. Stuart was the eldest son of Alexander Stuart of Torrance and his wife Isabel Nisbet, daughter of , of Edinburgh. Patrick Stuart MP was his younger brother. Stuart was returned by the Duke of Argyll as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayr Burghs at the 1734 British general election. There is no record of him voting in Parliament. He was not put forward as a candidate at the 1741 British general election.