William Russell (disambiguation)

William, Willy or Bill Russell (or other variants) may refer to:

Actors and directors
 William Russell (American actor) (1884–1929), stage and screen performer
 William D. Russell (director) (1908–1968), American movie and television director
 William Russell (1924–2024), movie and television actor

Business
 William Russell (merchant) (1740–1818), English businessman
 William Hepburn Russell (1812–1872), American businessman, founder of Pony Express
 William Greeneberry Russell (1818–1887), American prospector and miner

Education
 William Russell (educator) (1798–1873), born in Scotland
 William Fletcher Russell (1890–1956), American educationalist; president of Teachers College
 William D. Russell (historian) (born 1938), American history professor

Politics
Kingdom of England
 William Russell (knight) (1257–1311), holder of a moiety of the feudal barony of North Cadbury, Somerset
 William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh (1553/63–1613), English military commander
 Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Chippenham (before 1585–1654), English MP for Windsor
 Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Wytley (1602–1669), English MP for Worcestershire
 William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford (1616–1700), English peer and soldier
 William Russell, Lord Russell (1639–1683), English politician

United Kingdom
 Lord William Russell (1767–1840), MP best known as a murder victim
 Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Charlton Park (1773–1839), British baronet
 William Congreve Russell (1778–1850), English MP and High Sheriff of Worcestershire
 William Russell (1798–1850), Member of Parliament (MP) for Saltash, Bletchingley and County Durham
 William Russell, 8th Duke of Bedford (1809–1872), member of United Kingdom Parliament
 Sir William Russell, 2nd Baronet (1822–1892), MP for Dover, 1857–1859
 William Russell (Bolton MP) (1859–1937), Member of Parliament for Bolton, 1922–1923

United States
 William Russell (Virginia politician) (1735–1793), Virginia frontier soldier and legislator, father of William Russell of Kentucky
 William Russell (Kentucky politician) (1758–1825), American soldier, pioneer, and politician
 William Russell (Ohio politician) (1782–1845), U.S. Representative from Ohio
 William F. Russell (Florida politician) (c.1805–after 1875), Speaker of Florida House of Representatives
 William Huntington Russell (1809–1885), businessman, educator and politician from Connecticut
 William Fiero Russell (1812–1896), American congressman from New York
 William A. Russell (New York politician) (after 1820–before 1897), New York politician
 William A. Russell (Massachusetts politician) (1831–1899), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts
 William E. Russell (politician) (1857–1896), governor of Massachusetts between 1891 and 1894
 William Hepburn Russell (baseball) (1857–1911), lawyer, politician and owner of Boston Braves
 William W. Russell (before 1870–after 1908), United States Ambassador to Colombia, 1904–1905 and to Venezuela, 1905–1908
 William T. Russell, 2008 congressional candidate in Pennsylvania

Elsewhere
 William Russell (New South Wales politician) (1807–1866), member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
 William Russell (New Zealand politician) (1838–1913), Member of Parliament
 William Russell (Australian politician) (1842–1912), Australian senator from South Australia

Religion
 William Russell (bishop of Sodor) (before 1300–1374), Cistercian prelate from Isle of Man
 William Russell (bishop of North China) (1821–1879), Irish Protestant missionary to China
 William Thomas Russell (1863–1927), American Roman Catholic bishop of Charleston

Science
 William James Russell (1830–1909), English chemist
 William Russell (physician) (1852–1940), Scottish pathologist
 William Ritchie Russell (1903–1980), British neurologist

Sports
Cricketers
 William Russell (cricketer) (1866–1929), Australian-born English first-class cricketer
 William Eric Russell (born 1936), Scottish-born English cricketer

Footballers
 Willie Russell (1901–after 1925), Scottish footballer
 Billy Russell (footballer, born 1935), England amateur international footballer
 Billy Russell (footballer, born 1959), footballer and manager of Hull City

Other sports
 William Russell (fencer) (1896–1958), American Olympic fencer
 Bill Russell (1934–2022), American basketball player
 Bill Russell (baseball) (born 1948), shortstop and manager in Major League Baseball

Writers and composers
 William Russell (writer) (1741–1793), Scottish historical and miscellaneous writer
 William Russell (organist) (1777–1813), English composer
 William Clark Russell (1844–1911), English writer of nautical novels
 Bill Russell (composer) (1905–1992), American music historian and modernist composer
 Willy Russell (born 1947), English playwright, lyricist and composer
 Bill Russell (lyricist) (born 1949), American librettist and lyricist

Other
 William Oldnall Russell (1785–1833), English chief justice of Bengal 
 Lady William Russell (1793–1874), English socialite, wife of Lord George William Russell
 William Howard Russell (1820–1907), Irish reporter; one of first modern war correspondents
 William Carmichael Russell (1824–1905), British Bengal Artillery officer
 William Hamilton Russell (1856–1907), American architect