James Bowdoin III (September 22, 1752 – October 11, 1811) was an American philanthropist and statesman from Boston, Massachusetts. He has born to James Bowdoin in Boston, and graduated from Harvard College in 1771. James then studied law at Oxford and traveled widely in Europe until 1775. When he got the news of the Battle of Lexington he returned home. He served in the Massachusetts state legislature and on the council before attending the Massachusetts’ constitutional convention in 1779 and 1780.