William Balsillie Small (14 February 1872 – 26 February 1944) was a Scottish trade unionist.

Small was the son of William Small, a draper in Blantyre who became a prominent trade union leader, and Jessie Bell Scott. He had a deceased brother of the same name who was born one year before him.Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 William B. Small, as he was generally known, undertook a legal apprenticeship, but then in 1903 followed in his father's footsteps by becoming an agent of the Lanarkshire Miners' County Union (LMCU)."Former general secretary of Lanarkshire miners", The Scotsman, 26 February 1944 His younger brother Robert Small was also appointed as an agent,Alan Campbell, The Scottish Miners, 1874-1939: Trade unions and politics, p.101 while another brother, Gladstone Lothian Rosebery, became prominent at the League of Nations.University of Glasgow, "Staff Lieutenant Gladstone Lothian Rosebery Small"

Small also became active in the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), and during the 1900s was secretary of its Lanarkshire District Council. He was then active in its successor, the British Socialist Party, and stood unsuccessfully for Hamilton School Board as a party member.John Maclean, "Scottish notes", Justice, 7 May 1914

In 1918, the secretary of the LMCU, Duncan Macgregor Graham, was elected as a Member of Parliament, and Small became acting general secretary. The following year, he won election as the union's assistant general secretary, then in 1921 he was elected to the executive committee of the National Union of Scottish Mineworkers. In 1922 he was elected as general secretary of the Lanarkshire Miners on a permanent basis.Alan Campbell, The Scottish Miners, 1874-1939: Trade unions and politics, p.52 Now seen as being on the right wing of the movement, dissatisfaction with his leadership during the 1926 UK general strike meant that in 1927 he lost a bid for re-election to William Allan, a communist influenced by John Maclean.Robin Page Arnot, A History of the Scottish Miners: From the Earliest Times, p.184John McLean, The 1926 general strike in Lanarkshire, p.18 Small instead returned to the post of assistant general secretary, and was re-elected to the senior post in 1929, serving until about 1937.

In 1937, Small was fined £15 for drunk driving; he claimed that he had not been intoxicated, but admitted to driving without a licence."Miners' secretary fined", Manchester Guardian, 22 February 1937, p.10

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