Richard Anthony Proctor (March 23, 1837 – September 12, 1888) was an  English astronomer.

He is best known for producing one of the earliest maps of Mars in 1867, it was created from 27 drawings by the English observer William Rutter Dawes.

Throughout his career he wrote books, many periodicals for the scientific community and handbooks for the general public. He wrote at least 83 papers for the Royal Astronomical Society and was elected a fellow in 1866.

In 1881 he founded Knowledge, a popular weekly magazine of science, which had a large circulation. He wrote on a variety of subjects for the magazine.

He married and lived in St. Joseph with his first wife. They had a daughter, Mary Proctor of whom he named a crater on the moon. She is buried in St. Joseph at Mt. Mora.