William Bainbridge (10 February 1811 – 13 December 1869) was a British lawyer and barrister, a resident of Newcastle upon Tyne in the 19th-century well known for his legal work, political opinions and antiquarian and literary interests.

He published, also, A Comparison of the great English and French Revolutions, together with a book of poetry, entitled Alpine Lyrics, and a three-volume novel, Lionel Merval.

Under the guise of a tale, where every chapter is introduced by a description of rural scenery or wild romantic country, the three or four characters in this drama argue out the moral, social, religious, and political questions of the time.

The arduous and harassing work involved in long-protracted litigation and adjustment of conflicting claims of creditors and share-holders had a visible effect upon his health, but he discharged the matters arising to general satisfaction.

There was no institution, however venerable, that would not be put upon its trial, and it would be for the people themselves, guided by the wisdom of their rulers, to say whether one or the other was capable of repair; or whether it ought to cease to exist, and be cut down like a withered tree bearing neither flowers nor fruitBesides speaking upon the hustings, Mr. Bainbridge, at the public meetings which were held in the town in connection with these elections, raised his voice with earnestness and effect in favour of the Radical candidates.

His services on that occasion form the theme of laudation in a famous satire The High Priest of Epona, written by a gifted townsman in imitation of Thomas Babington Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome.

"Lawyer Bainbridge," as he was familiarly called, was remembered by Welford as "a powerful and fervent speaker, with a fine command of nervous and idiomatic English, a good voice, an imposing presence, and a thorough conviction of the truth of the doctrines he was advocating, a formidable opponent and an efficient ally".