The Reverend William Houghton (1828–1895) was an English naturalist and clergyman, noted for being the author of British Fresh-Water Fishes.

Houghton was rector of Preston on the Weald Moors in Shropshire. A serious naturalist, he became a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London. To produce his major work, Houghton studied fish specimens at the British Museum.