William Locker (February 1731 – 26 December 1800) was an officer in the Royal Navy, who served with distinction during the eighteenth century.

He was the second son of John Locker, a Merton College, Oxford-educated barrister and commissioner of bankrupts,[1] who served as the clerk to the company, and his wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of the physician Edward Stillingfleet.

After Windham's death, Locker moved aboard the Vainqueur (under a Captain James Kirk), which was bound for the West Indies.

He rejoined the Navy in 1755, becoming master's mate aboard HMS St George, the flagship of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke.

He was made lieutenant on 7 January 1756 and joined Hawke aboard HMS Antelope when he sailed to Gibraltar to relieve John Byng.

Captain Strachan was taken ill for part of his captaincy of the Experiment, and he was temporarily replaced in January 1757 by John Jervis, then a lieutenant of HMS Culloden.

The Experiment fought an indecisive engagement with a large French privateer on 16 March, after which Jervis returned to the Culloden and Strachan resumed command.

Carrying a similar number of guns, but with 460 men, a far larger crew, the Télémaque attempted to use this massive numerical superiority to come alongside the Experiment and board her.

After this success, Locker went aboard Hawke's flagship HMS Royal George in March 1760, and became the ship's first lieutenant in July 1761.

An appointment to command the sloop HMS Nautilus came in 1763, and he was dispatched to withdraw the British garrison from Gorée in West Africa, after the Treaty of Paris restored it to the French.

The following day Nelson wrote a letter of condolence to his eldest son, John: "The greatest consolation to us, his friends that remain, is that he has left a character for honour and honesty which none of us can surpass and very few attain."

During his later years and with the assistance of his friend Admiral John Forbes, Locker began compiling material for a naval history.

[4] Locker was a noted patron of the arts, having a number of portraits painted, and supporting the careers of the likes of Abbott and Robert Cleveley.