Sir William Symonds CB FRS (24 September 1782 – 30 March 1856, aboard the French steamship Nil, Strait of Bonifacio, Sardinia)[1] was Surveyor of the Navy in the Royal Navy from 9 June 1832 to October 1847, and took part in the naval reforms instituted by the Whig First Lord of the Admiralty Sir James Robert George Graham in 1832.

Sailing trials in 1827 and 1831 were won by Symonds's entries, and (with Clarence's accession as William IV, the Whig abolition of the Navy Board and Earl Grey's ministry) he was taken on to design a 50 gun frigate, which he named HMS Vernon after his patron.

This informed his reporting of British oak supplies from the forest of Dean and the New Forest, improved timber supplies and (along with a new means of construction invented by the talented Chief Clerk in the Surveyor's Office, John Edye, who also provided the detail for Symonds's more than 200 designs for the Navy) allowed Symonds to create larger and larger wooden warships.

Autocratic in office, demanding obedience and support from subordinates and superiors alike and taking any criticism or suggested alteration to his designs as a personal slight, he turned on his opponents in the pamphlet Facts versus Fiction (1844).

Nevertheless, in the face of the Tory First Sea Lord Lord Ellenborough's institution of a "Committee of Reference" in 1846 to oversee Symonds and modify his designs according to the Board's wishes, a command to make a radical alteration to his design for a new 90 gun ship, and loss of most of his Whig support even on their return to power in July 1846, Symonds resigned his role in October 1847 (despite retaining the Duke of Portland's continued support), and was succeeded by Sir Baldwin Walker.

Despite his fall from grace, he was granted an Order of the Bath (civil) on 1 May 1848, and in June 1853 James Graham, having again become First Sea Lord, was convinced by the Duke of Portland to take Symonds back on, as the Queen's naval Aide-de-Camp.

His will required the publication of a biography in his favour – this repeated the arguments over his sailing-ship designs despite the Navy's having long abandoned sail by this date.