James Prinsep (20 August 1799 - 22 April 1840) was an Anglo-Indian scholar and antiquary.

In 1819 he was given an appointment in the Calcutta mint, where he ultimately became assay-master , succeeding H. H. Wilson , whom he likewise succeeded as secretary of the Asiatic Society. Apart from architectural work (chiefly at Benares), his leisure was devoted to Indian inscriptions and numismatics, and he is remembered as the first to decipher and translate the rock edicts of Asoka. Returning to England in 1838 in broken health, he died in London in 1840.

Prinsep's Ghat , an archway on the bank of the Hooghly River, was erected to his memory by the citizens of Calcutta.