William McGee was a medical doctor who served as Mayor of Belfast during 1853.

McGee studied at Edinburgh and was appointed as assistant-surgeon in the Royal Navy, serving on the H.M. Frigate ‘Nymphe’. During his time in the navy he was taken prisoner twice during the American War of 1812-15 and was involved in the British attack on New Orleans in 1815. McGee later served in the West Indies and on retiring from the Navy practiced medicine in Belfast.

He was actively involved in the public life of the city, serving as a Poor Law Guardian and later as Chairman of the Belfast Board of Guardians. Fenton was elected twice as President of the Belfast Medical Society and was a member of the city’s Water Board. He was an advocate of sanitary improvement in Belfast to combat the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases.

He died at Plymouth on 10 February 1874.