James Henry Ladson (1753 – 1812) was an American politician, wealthy plantation owner from Charles Town and officer of the American Revolution. He served as the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 1792 to 1794, and was a member of the South Carolina state Senate from 1800 to 1804. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is descended both from his son James H. Ladson and from his daughter Elizabeth Ladson, and by adoption additionally from his daughter Sarah Reeve Ladson; von der Leyen lived under the name Rose Ladson in London in the late 1970s.