William Hunt Painter (16 July 1835 – 12 October 1910) was an English botanist who made a significant contribution to the science of Derbyshire vascular plant flora.

In 1865, Painter became curate at High Wycombe, where he met James Britten, who had already published his first paper and was working in the herbarium for Kew Gardens.

Together these formed the basis of Contributions to the Flora of Derbyshire,[7] which was reviewed by the bryologist James Eustace Bagnall.

Bagnall was an acknowledged expert on mosses and was to publish a similar work to Painter's on the Flora of Warwickshire.

Painter remained in Stirchley until 1909, when his botanical and geological specimens were presented to University College, Aberystwyth before he retired to Shrewsbury.

On his death, the English Churchman said "[T]he Church of England has lost a faithful and devoted minister who was ever jealous for the maintenance of its Protestant principles".