James Douglas (1867–1940) was a prominent British journalist, editor, and literary critic active during the early twentieth century. He built a significant career in London's newspaper industry, serving as the editor of The Star from 1908 to 1920. Following this tenure, he took the editorial helm of the Sunday Express, a position he held until 1931, cementing his influence in mainstream British print media.
Beyond his editorial duties, Douglas became widely recognized—and frequently controversial—for his staunch advocacy of literary censorship. He used his platform to campaign against books he deemed morally objectionable. His most famous crusade was against Radclyffe Hall's 1928 novel, The Well of Loneliness, which he vehemently argued should be banned. This aggressive stance drew significant backlash from contemporary literary figures; notably, writers P. R. Stephensen and Jack Lindsay satirized and mocked Douglas in their illustrated poem The Sink of Solitude (1928).
Douglas continued his campaign against controversial literature into his later years. In 1937, he published a highly critical review of John Worby's memoir, The Other Half, calling it a "dangerous book" and demanding its prohibition. Ironically, Douglas's condemnation had the opposite effect: it dramatically boosted the book's sales, leading publishers in both the United Kingdom and the United States to feature his negative quote on the dust jackets of subsequent editions to drive interest.
