William Gillies [William] Whittaker (23/07/1876 - 05/07/1944), an English musical scholar, choral conductor and composer, born in Newcastle on Tyne.

He was a lecturer at Armstrong College (now Newcastle University), a composer, conductor, folk-song collector, and friend of Holst and Vaughan Williams. In particular he enjoyed national renown for his choral conducting with the Newcastle Bach Choir (formed by him in 1915) whose dual mission was to perform the works of Bach and contemporary choral music by British and French composers.