William Russell

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

In politics

Australia

• William Russell (Australian politician) (1842–1912), Australian senator from South Australia
• William Russell (New South Wales politician) (1807–1866), member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and Council

New Zealand

• William Russell (New Zealand politician) (1838–1913), Member of Parliament

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 (died 1613), English military commander
• Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Chippenham (died 1654), English MP for Windsor
• Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Wytley (c. 1602–1669), English MP for Worcestershire
• William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford (1616–1700), British 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), British Member of Parliament (MP) for Saltash, Bletchingley and County Durham
• William Russell, 8th Duke of Bedford (1809–1872), member of the 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) (1735–1793), Virginia frontier soldier and legislator, father of William Russell of Kentucky
• William Russell (Kentucky) (1758–1825), American soldier, pioneer, and politician
• William Russell (Ohio politician) (1782–1845), U.S. Representative from Ohio
• William Huntington Russell (1809–1885), U.S. businessman, educator and politician from Connecticut, and co-founder of the Yale University secret society Skull and Bones
• William Fiero Russell (1812–1896), American congressman from New York
• William A. Russell (New York) (fl. 1850s), New York politician
• William Russell (governor) (1857–1896), governor of Massachusetts between 1891 and 1894
• William Hepburn Russell (baseball) (died 1911), lawyer, politician and owner of the Boston Braves baseball team
• William A. Russell (1831–1899), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts
• William F. Russell (Florida politician) (1805–?), Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

Religious figures

• William Russell (bishop of Sodor) (died 1374), Bishop over Man and the Isles from 1348 to 1374
• William Russell (merchant) (1740–1818), Birmingham merchant and Unitarian
• William Russell (bishop of North China) (1821–1879), Anglican bishop in China
• William Thomas Russell (1863–1927), American Roman Catholic bishop of Charleston

Businessmen

• William Hepburn Russell (1812–1872), founder of the Pony Express
• William Greeneberry Russell (1818–1887), American miner

In sports

• Willie Russell (fl. 1920s), Scottish footballer
• Bill Russell (born 1934), American basketball player
• Bill Russell (baseball) (born 1948), shortstop, coach and manager in Major League Baseball
• Billy Russell (footballer, born 1935), England amateur international footballer
• Billy Russell (footballer, born 1959) footballer and manager of Hull City
• William Russell (fencer) (1896–1958), American Olympic fencer
• William Russell (cricketer) (1866–1929), Australian-born English cricketer

In the arts

• Bill Russell (composer) (1905–1992), American music historian and modernist composer
• William Clark Russell (1844–1911), writer of nautical novels
• William Russell (actor) (born 1924), British actor
• William Russell (American actor) (1884–1929), American actor of stage and screen
• Willy Russell (born 1947), British playwright, lyricist and composer
• William Russell (organist) (1777–1813), organist and composer
• Bill Russell (lyricist) (born 1949), Broadway lyricist
• William D. Russell (director) (1908–1968), American film and television director

Others

• William Russell (writer) (1741–1793), Scottish historical and miscellaneous writer
• William Howard Russell (1820–1907), Irish reporter considered one of the first war correspondents
• William Russell (educator) (1798–1873), American educator (born in Scotland)
• William Fletcher Russell (1890–1956), president of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York
• William W. Russell, United States Ambassador to Colombia, 1904–1905, and to Venezuela, 1905–1908
• William D. Russell (historian) (born 1938), American historian and social activist
• William Hamilton Russell (1856–1907), American architect
• William Russell (physician) (1852–1940), Scottish pathologist and physician, see Russell bodies
• Sir William Oldnall Russell (1785–1833), chief justice of Bengal and legal writer
• William Carmichael Russell (1824–1905), Bengal Artillery officer

By association

• Lady William Russell (1793–1874), wife of Lord George William Russell and socialite