Sir William Henry Mahoney Christie KCB FRS (1 October 1845 – 22 January 1922) was a British astronomer.

[1] He was born in Woolwich, London, the son of Samuel Hunter Christie and educated at King's College School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

(honoris causa) from the University of Oxford in June 1902,[3] and was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1904.

[5] The first Astronomer Royal to retire at 65 (all previous incumbents bar Airy and John Pond had died in office; John Pond had been forced by poor health to resign in 1835, while Airy retired aged 81), Christie died and was buried at sea near Gibraltar in 1922.

He had married in 1881 Mary Violette, daughter of Sir Alfred Hickman.