William Frederick Wells (1762 - 10 Nov 1836) was an English watercolour landscape painter and etcher.
Wells was born in London in 1762. Wells studied art in London under John James Barralet (1747–1815). On 20 November 1804, Wells initiated the founding of a watercolour painters society at a meeting at the Stratford Coffee House, Oxford St, London. Wells was president of the fledgling association, originally called the Society of Painters in Watercolours, from 1806 to 1807.
He travelled and painted extensively in England and Europe, particularly in Norway and Sweden. Wells' art was annually exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1795 to 1813. He held the post of Professor of Drawing at Addiscombe Military Seminary for officers of the East India Company Army over twenty years from its opening in 1809. Wells was an intimate friend of Joseph Mallord William Turner. Among his works as an etcher are two fine sets in soft ground; Thomas Gainsborough's English Scenery (1819) and Select Views in Cumberland (1810).
In later life, he retired to Mitcham, Surrey and died there on 10 November 1836.
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