William Ruxton Davison (died 25 January 1893) was a British ornithologist and collector.

His father married into a family of modest means and was forced to enlist for service in India.

Hume trained Davison for a year and then sent him to various parts of India for periods of six to seven months to collect specimens mostly of birds but also plants.

The results of this were published in a joint article by Davison and Hume, A Revised List of the Birds of Tenasserim (1878).

[8] Davison's work at the Raffles Museum involved extending the collections, improving access and storage techniques.

He personally went on a collection trip along with Henry Nicholas Ridley and Lt. Harry Joseph Kelsall to Pahang in 1891.

[9] The expedition was cut short by news of the death of Davison's wife on 27 March 1891 from bronchitis.

Surgeon Thomas Crighton Mugliston noted that post-mortem examination did not show alcohol as a cause of death but found at least 15 grains of opium in the stomach.