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