William Stone (c. 1603 – c. 1660) was an English-born merchant, planter and colonial administrator who served as the proprietary governor of Maryland from 1649 to 1655.

On September 15, 1619, William Stone set sail for the Virginia Colony, on the ship, Margaret of Bristol and was one of the new colonists, being sent to Berkeley Hundred, to work under Captain John Woodlief's supervision.

In 1628, William Stone made his first venture into Accomac, on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, selling a load of stockings for his haberdasher family.

Not long after, he and his brother Andrew led a party of about 34 settlers to Accomac, stopping in Barbados on the way in a venture organized by his Uncle Thomas.

William became a leader of the settlement at Accomac on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, which was loosely associated with the larger Puritan colony at Nansemond.

In 1648, William Stone reached an agreement with Cecilius Calvert, the 2nd Lord Baltimore to negotiate with the Virginia Puritan colonists to resettle in the Province of Maryland.

In 1649, William Stone established his seat near St. Mary's City while he encouraged other Puritan exiles from Virginia to found the settlement of Providence along the north shore of the Severn River, across from the future site of the Maryland state capital of Annapolis.

Stone briefly served on the Governor's Council in 1658 but thereafter took no further part in public affairs, retiring to his estate called Poynton Manor.