William Francis Ainsworth (1807-1896) was an English surgeon, traveller, geographer and geologist, known also as a writer and editor. He was first trained as a surgeon and physician, serving at various hospitals in England and Scotland, and also serving at hospitals in Ireland during an outbreak of the cholera, in 1832 publishing a book on his observations on the cholera. He recorded incidents of his time in Ireland in Ainsworth's Magazine and the New Monthly Magazine. In 1834 he published An Account of the Caves of Ballybunian, County of Kerry: With Some Mineralogical Details, in Dublin, Ireland. Even so, he is best known for his writings on travels in the Middle East, having served as a medical doctor for various expeditions.