William Farquhar Conton (5 September 1925 – 23 June 2003) was a Sierra Leone Creole educator, historian and acclaimed novelist.
William Conton was educated at CMS Grammar School in Sierra Leone before proceeding to Durham University in England, where he read for a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, graduating in 1947 as a member of St John's College.
After graduating in 1947, he taught at Fourah Bay College for the next six years, moving on to become principal of Accra High School in Ghana.
[5] Although The African had widespread acclaim, critics such as Wole Soyinka were unimpressed with the novel and found the romantic aspects unconvincing, which he referred to as utopian "love optimism", and called the main character, Kamara, an "unbelievable prig".
[6] In 1949, William Conton married Bertha Yvonne Thompson, an educator, principal, and school proprietress, and the couple had five children.