Sir William Peterson, KCMG (29 May 1856 – 4 January 1921) was a Scottish academic and the Principal of McGill University from 1895 to 1919.

[2] Peterson, despite being aged only 26, won this position ahead of three other candidates including John Edward Aloysious Stegall, who would go on to serve as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at University College, Dundee.

In 1914 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served as a Major in the Royal Highlanders of Canada winning the Distinguished Service Order in action in France.

He ran the Officer Training Corps at the university and was found in the gunroom with a gunshot wonud to the head and ied in hospital on 6 October 1930.

[7] His second son, Maurice Peterson, was also a classicist and served in the Diplomatic Service in both Bulgaria and Iraq before becoming ambassador to Spain in 1939 under the Franco regime.