William Gribbon Ross (31 July 1819 – 23 April 1881) was a Scottish actor and singer who became a popular entertainer in London in the mid-nineteenth century.

[1][2] His "early history as an unsuccessful and untalented actor is obscure",[3] though it is believed that he acted and sang locally before moving to England to perform.

He sang a wide range of songs, but his fame rested on just one, "Sam Hall", which had originated some years earlier as the story of a habitual criminal.

He performed the song in character as a chimney sweep awaiting execution, "sitting astride a chair, the effect of his tattered clothes and bedraggled hat increased by the blackened clay pipe held between his teeth, which was removed only for purposes of expectoration, and for the greater emphasis of the oaths which bespatter the verses.

[6] Ross performed other songs, including "Hamlet Ye Dane",[1] as well some written by Charles Sloman, but they were much less successful.