Colonel William Willoughby Cole Verner (22 October 1852 – 25 January 1922) was a British soldier, writer, ornithologist, and inventor of a type of compass.

He is remembered for bringing Cueva de la Pileta, a cave filled with prehistoric paintings, to international attention.

In 1874 he joined the Rifle Brigade and was posted to Gibraltar although he also holidayed on the Scottish island of Tiree with fellow naturalist Howard Irby where they continued their interest in studying, shooting (and eating) the local wildlife.

He wrote Sketches in the Soudan (sic) in 1885 and Rapid Field-Sketching and Reconnaissance and Advanced Guard and Outpost Duties for Riflemen in 1889.

In 1894 his friend (Leonard) Howard Irby published The Ornithology of the Strait of Gibraltar and after he retired to Algeciras he wrote My Life among the Wild Birds in Spain.

[7] In 1917 Breuil returned and he and Verner were warned off their next investigation of Devil's Tower Cave in Gibraltar by a local policeman (but not before they had retrieved some Neanderthal tools).