William received his medical degree from the University of Göttingen in 1830, and enlisted as surgeon in the royal Hanoverian grenadier-guard.
He went to the United States on leave of absence in 1837, and sent back his resignation from New York City.
He published a book on the treatment of club foot and analogous subjects that was one of the milestones of the pre-Listerian epochs of orthopedics.
He also published "Opening an Abscess in the Brain," in the Journal of the Medical Sciences for February 1850.
He was an engineer, and among his projects he supervised the building and design of the New York Crystal Palace.