Rev Dr. William Nicol (23 March 1887, in Robertson – 22 June 1967) was a Dutch Reformed minister, theologian, educator and Administrator of the Transvaal Province of South Africa.
Nicol was the founder of Johannesburg East's parish magazine, Irenenuus, in January 1923, that he wanted the members in their particular situation escorted to their faith.
On 1 November 1948 he was elected as the administrator of Transvaal and ten years later his work, especially with regard to education and culture, continued to grow.
He opposed the National Party's Bantu Education and suggested a model with learning in the mother tongue with English as a second language so that people could all communicate.
This resulted in controversy, with the Afrikanerbond, a successor of the Broederbond criticising the ruling party, the ANC, for attempting to rewrite history.