William Collinson Sawyer[1] (1831 – 15 March 1868) was a colonial Anglican bishop in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.

[3] After some years as the Vicar of Tunbridge Wells,[4] he was appointed the inaugural Bishop of Grafton and Armidale in Australia [5] on 30 January 1867 and consecrated to the episcopate at Canterbury Cathedral on the Feast of the Purification (2 February 1867), by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury.

[6] He died by drowning[7] when his boat was upset[8] in the Clarence River on Sunday 15 March 1868.

His episcopal status therefore remained forever as a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle.

The Act of the NSW Legislative Council 41st Victoria 1877 at page 23 inter alia contains the following: "And whereas the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury having obtained Her Majesty's license or mandate by warrant under the Royal sign manual and signet did on the twenty-fourth day of February one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine with other Bishops of the Church of England assisting him consecrate the Right Reverend James Francis Turner Doctor in Divinity with the intent and for the purpose that the said Bishop should exercise his functions in the said new see or diocese of Grafton and Armidale."