William Hutchison (1820 – 3 December 1905) was a New Zealand politician and journalist. Hutchison and his son George were both Members of Parliament.

Hutchison was born in Banffshire, Scotland, and trained as a journalist.^[1] On 12 August 1846, he married Helen Hutchison (née Aicheson) of Inverness.^[2] They emigrated to New Zealand in 1866 for him to take up employment with The Southern Cross.^[1][3]

A journalist,^[4] Hutchison worked for The Southern Cross in Auckland for some months, then bought the Wanganui Chronicle and started the Tribune in Wellington.^[1]

He was Mayor of Wanganui, New Zealand from 1873 to 1874.^[1] Then he was Mayor of Wellington from 1876 to 1877, and from 1879 to 1881.^[5] As Mayor of Wellington, a central issue was whether the Wellington Waterfront should be controlled by the city council or a separate entity.^[5]

He was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council from 1867 to 1876 for the Wanganui electorate.^[6]

He stood in the 1875 election in the Hutt electorate and was decisively beaten by the incumbent, William Fitzherbert.^[7] He represented the City of Wellington in Parliament from 1879 to 1881, then Wellington South from 1881 to 1884, when he was defeated.^[8] He moved to Dunedin in 1884.^[2]

He unsuccessfully contested the Bruce electorate in the 1885 by-election, and the Dunedin Central electorate in the 1886 by-election where he was a controversial candidate. He then stood for the Roslyn electorate in the 1887 general election.^[1] He then represented the City of Dunedin from 1890^[9] to 1896, when he was defeated.^[8] He came fifth in the 1896 election in the three-member Dunedin electorate.^[10] Following the death of Henry Fish, he contested the resulting 1897 by-election. Alexander Sligo, Hugh Gourley and Hutchison received 5045, 4065 and 2030 votes, respectively.^[11] He was a supporter of the Liberal Party.^[12]

His son George Hutchison represented Taranaki electorates in Parliament. For six years (from 1890 to 1896) they were in Parliament at the same time,^[8] and were often seen glaring at each other from opposite sides of the house.^[13]

Another son, Sir James Hutchison, was editor of the Otago Daily Times.^[3]

Hutchison's wife died five years before him.^[2] He had been ill for some time before he died on 3 December 1905 at his home in Queen Street, Dunedin.^[14] He was survived by four sons and four daughters.^[2]

Hutchison Road in Wellington was named in his honour.^[15]