John Gordon Lorimer CIE, also known as J. G. Lorimer, was a British diplomat, historian and colonial administrator. Working for the British Raj in Punjab and the Northwest frontier province, he later served in the Gulf region as British Political Resident. He is most famous for his encyclopedia, the Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia.

The Persian Gulf Residency was a subdivision of the British Empire from 1822 until 1971, whereby the United Kingdom maintained varying degrees of political and economic control over several states in the Persian Gulf, including what is today known as the United Arab Emirates and at various times southern portions of Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.