James William Denny

James William Denny (November 20, 1838 – April 12, 1923) was a U.S. Representative from Maryland.

Born in Frederick County, Virginia, Denny attended the academy of the Rev. William Johnson, Berryville, Virginia, and graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He served as principal of the Osage Seminary of Osceola, Missouri. During the Civil War, he returned to his native State and enlisted in Company A, Thirty-ninth Virginia Battalion of Cavalry, Confederate States Army. He served until 1863, when he was detailed for service at Gen. Robert E. Lee's headquarters, where he continued until the surrender at Appomattox Court House. After the War, he returned to Clarke County, Virginia, and began the study of law in Winchester. He was admitted to the bar in Baltimore, Maryland in 1868, and commenced practice in that city.

Denny was elected to the first branch of the Baltimore city council in 1881, was reelected in 1882, and later became its president. He also served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1888 to 1890, as colonel on the staff of Gov. Elihu Emory Jackson, and as member of the Baltimore School Board for eight years.

Denny was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1901), but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1900 to the Fifty-seventh Congress. He was later elected to the Fifty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1905). He engaged in the practice of law until his death in Baltimore, and is interred in Loudon Park Cemetery.