William King (February 9, 1768 – June 17, 1852) was an American merchant, shipbuilder, army officer, and statesman from Bath, Maine.

He was the half-brother of Rufus King, who was a member of the Confederation Congress from Massachusetts, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, served as United States Senator from New York (from 1789 to 1796 and again from 1813 to 1825), and as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James from 1796 to 1803 and again from 1825 to 1826.

His formal education was limited to local schools (he spent one term at Phillips Academy) and ended when he was thirteen.

When the War of 1812 began, Massachusetts made him major general of the militia, in charge of the District of Maine.

In 1816 he was re-elected to the Massachusetts Senate, and finally secured their approval for Maine to become a separate state, in 1818.

[6] He died at home, in Bath, Maine, on June 17, 1852, and is buried in the city's Maple Grove Cemetery.

[7] In 1878, the State of Maine placed the William King statue by sculptor Franklin Simmons in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol Building.