William Croswell Doane (March 2, 1832, in Boston[1] – May 17, 1913, in New York City[1][2]) was the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany in the United States.

George Doane, was Rector of the prominent Trinity Church, Boston, located on Copley Square.

Like his father, he became involved in the Oxford Movement, which sought to restore richness of practice to the liturgy.

[1] In 1863, Doane accepted a call to St. John's Church, Hartford, Connecticut, and he served there during the American Civil War.

[1][4] His election had "strong opposition," because he was a "young rector," but also because "the evangelical element…looked upon Mr. Doane as a high churchman, [with] his ritualistic practices...." adopted as part of the Oxford Movement influence.

[1] Doane had a large diocese, and spent many years in visitation, establishing churches, and confirming persons.

[1] For many years his biggest project was supervising the building of the Cathedral of All Saints, his major legacy.

The cathedral was incorporated in 1873, and the laying of its cornerstone on a downtown site on June 3, 1884, took place "with impressive ceremony.

[8] Doane and the congregation planned a cathedral complex, to include convent, cloister, hospital and school.

[13] So influential were his views that suffragist Ellen Battelle Dietrick's last book, Women in the Early Christian Ministry (1897)—in which she offered a refutation of Christian teachings that relegated women to second-class status—was subtitled "A Reply to Bishop Doane, and Others".