William Dugdale (29 March 1800 – 11 November 1868) was an English publisher, printer, and bookseller of politically subversive publications and pornographic literature in England during the 19th century. By the 1850s he had become "the principal source of such publications in the country". Despite the numerous police raids on his shops and spending many years in prison he remained in the book trade for over forty years.

William Dugdale was the first son born to Quaker John Dugdale, son of John and Jennet Dugdale (also Quakers), and Ann Platt, daughter of William and Elizabeth Platt. John the elder worked as a linen draper;^[1] John the younger was a Stockport hosier and tailor.^[2] William's mother, Ann, was born on 16 February 1772 in Chester. Her father was a clock and watch-maker in Manchester.^[3] She died at the age of 38 on 2 January 1810.^[4]

John and Ann married on 29 June 1797.^[5] They had six children, all born in Stockport.^[6] Three of the children: Jennet, Samuel and Jabez died before reaching the age of 5; they, plus their mother, died within three years of each other of unknown causes.

William, Thomas and John Lambert, once they reached the age of 9, were educated at Ackworth School, a boarding school for Quaker boys and girls: William attended from 1809 to 1813, Thomas from 1812 to 1816, and John from 1814 to 1817.^[7]

On 4 May 1826, William married Hannah Pinnell in St. Anne Soho parish, Westminster.^[8] Hannah, the daughter of Robert Pinnell and Fanny Warren, was baptized on 23 May 1803 in Warminster.^[9] Hannah died August 1855, buried 14 August 1855 at Nunhead Cemetery in London. William and Hannah had 4 children:

• William John Dugdale – born abt. 1824, baptized 4 September 1827.^[10] In the 1851 England census, William's occupation is listed as bookseller at 35 Holywell-street.
  • Married Jane Samuels on 8 November 1846 in Deptford.^[11]
    • William Ambrose Dugdale. He was baptized 18 March 1849.^[12]
• Frances Dugdale - born 24 June 1827 in St. Martin-in-the Fields parish. Died at. 1881.
  • Married John Higdon Thornhill, a tailor, on 26 October 1845 in St. Martin-in-the Fields parish. He and Frances also ran Dugdale's shop at 5 Holywell-street while Frances' father was in prison for selling obscene prints. In 1858, John and Thomas Blacketer (husband of Ann, Thomas Dugdale's daughter) were convicted of selling obscene prints from the same address. They were sentenced to 6 months hard labor.
    • Fanny M. was born abt. 1847 in Deptford, England.
    • John H. was born abt. 1848 in Deptford, England.
    • Joan was born abt. 1848 in Deptford, England.
    • Nellie Grace was born abt. 1868 in London, England.
• Jessie Dugdale - born the 1st quarter of 1844. died April 1880
  • Married Theophilus Sebastian Judge in the 4th quarter of 1865 in St. Giles in the Fields parish. Theo was born the 1st quarter of 1840 in Windsor, Berkshire, Surrey, England. Theo, as well as his father, Jasper Judge, and many of his brothers were booksellers involved in the obscene book trade. Theophilus used many aliases during his career as a bookseller including Thomas Judge and C. Brown. He operated out of an address on Holywell-street (a Dugdale shop?) and Dugdale's shop at 44 Wych-street, which he continued running after Dugdale's death. He was indicted for selling obscene prints and books from that address on 13 April 1869 and sentenced to 2 years in prison. Theo died at the age of 86 in 1926 in Chelsea, London, England.
• Elizabeth Jane Dugdale – baptized 17 January 1847.^[12]

At the age of 18 Dugdale moved to London where he was employed by William Benbow, a radical publisher of obscene books.^[13] Two years later he was implicated (though not prosecuted)^[14] in the Cato Street Conspiracy. In 1822 he started his own publishing and book-selling business, initially of a general nature but specializing over time in pornography. Ashbee described him as "one of the most prolific publishers of filthy books". Although Dugdale published some original works many were translations done by James Campbell Reddie and reprints of previously published erotica.^[15] Eventually, William's two brothers, Thomas and John, as well as William's son, became booksellers and joined the family trade.

William Dugdale died at the age of 68 on 11 November 1868 while incarcerated at the Clerkenwell house of correction. An article posted in Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper regarding an inquiry into the circumstances of his death reads in part: "Jessie Judge of 44 Wych-street…said she was the daughter of the deceased. She had seen him several times since he had been in prison. He had been very ill and was not ill when he entered the gaol…He was deprived of books and pen and paper and that I think affected his mind…it appeared that although sentenced to hard labour he did not do any; and had been in the convalescent ward, and on a first-class diet from the first." Cause of death was ruled as "death from natural causes". The jury also strongly recommended that books of a higher intellectual character than those generally distributed throughout the ward should be made available to the "high class of men who were prisoners". Dugdale was buried at Nunhead Cemetery in London on 17 November 1868.^[34]