William Wayte (4 September 1829 – 3 May 1898) was a Church of England cleric and a British chess master. He was one of a group of ministers who played a prominent role in English chess in the late nineteenth century. Although little remembered today, according to Chessmetrics he was the number 9 player in the world at his peak in 1878.

Wayte was born in Calne, England on 4 September 1829. In 1850, he became a Craven Scholar and Brown's Medallist. In 1853, Wayte received his B.A. and became a deacon. He also became an assistant master at Eton College, a position he held until 1875. After becoming a priest in 1854 (Oxford), Wayte went on to receive his MA degree in 1856. In 1862, he took on the position of Select Preacher at the University of Cambridge.

In 1876, Wayte became a professor of Greek at University College London. He continued with his interest in Greek, editing the 5th edition of Plato's Protagoras (1888), the 2nd edition of Demosthenes' Androtion and Timocrates (1893), and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

Wayte was one of a group of ministers who played a prominent role in early Victorian Era English chess. Other members of the group included George Alcock MacDonnell, John Owen, Charles Ranken, Edmund Thorold, and Arthur Skipworth. Mike Fox and Richard James remark that, "The English parsons were a talented mob; presumably quiet country parishes in the nineteenth century gave one the leisure needed to become a star. Most of them played under an alias so that their parishioners wouldn't know what they were up to on those long weekends in London." Wayte's alias was "W.H.C."

Wayte played in a number of tournaments in Britain between 1861 and 1893. In 1868, he finished second with 6.5 of 9 possible points, behind Rev. Thorold (8.5 points) at the 4th Counties Chess Association Congress in York. In 1871, he again finished second with 6.5 of 9 possible points, behind Arthur Skipworth (7 points), at the 3rd British Chess Association Challenge Cup in Malvern. In 1872, he finished third in the first-class section at the 8th Counties Chess Association Congress in Malvern with 10.5 of 14 possible points, behind Revs. Ranken (12 points) and Thorold (11.5 points). In 1873, he finished second with 7 of 9 possible points, behind Skipworth (8 points) at the 9th Counties Chess Association Congress in Bristol.

In 1876, Wayte scored 9 of 12 possible points, tying for 2nd–4th, with James Minchin and Rev. Owen, behind Amos Burn (11 points). In 1877, he defeated Minchin in a match held in London (11 wins, 1 draw, 7 losses). At London 1878, he won the Loewenthal Cup, scoring an undefeated 13 of 14 possible points in the double round robin event. At London 1879, he again won the Loewenthal Cup, scoring 9 of 12 possible points in a triple round robin format. With his chess career advancing, Wayte left his professor position at the University College London in 1879.

In 1881, he finished third in the 16th British Counties Chess Association Congress in Leamington with 7 of 9 possible points, behind Revs. Ranken (8 points) and Owen (7.5 points). In 1884, he won the 19th Counties Chess Association tournament in Bath with 5 of 6 possible points, ahead of such strong players as Henry Bird and Rev. MacDonnell. In 1884, he defeated Rev. Thorold in a match held in London (7 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses).

On 4 April 1885, Wayte was featured in a cartoon by noted artist and illustrator Harry Furniss in the magazine Punch, a British weekly magazine of humour and satire. The cartoon featured a room with Wayte and other leading chess players. In the cartoon, Wayte was drawn with a massive head and beetling brow seated at a chess table facing leading chess player Johannes Zukertort. By 1894, Wayte was considered a famous member of the Counties' Association. He wrote for the British Chess Magazine, which as of 2009 is the world's oldest chess magazine in continuous publication.