William Townsend Aiton FRHS FLS (2 February 1766 – 9 October 1849) was an English botanist.
He was born at Kew on 2 February 1766, the eldest child of the four daughters and two sons of Elizabeth (née Townsend) (c.1740–1826) and William Aiton (1731–1793).
His younger brother was John Townsend Aiton (1777–1851), royal gardener at Windsor, and later Frogmore and Kensington Palace.
[1] Aiton was one of the founders and an active fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society.
[2][1] He never married but his heir was his illegitimate son, William Atwell Smith (b.