William George Beattie

William George Beattie (1841–1918) was a British locomotive engineer who succeeded his father Joseph Hamilton Beattie as Locomotive Superintendent of the London and South Western Railway at Nine Elms in October 1871, holding the post until his resignation in November 1877.

Born at Edinburgh on 13 January 1841, Beattie was educated at King's College London and worked alongside his father. His most lasting work was the 1874–1875 batch of well-tank 2-4-0WT engines (the famous 'Beattie Well Tanks'), of which three lasted in active service on the Wenford Bridge mineral branch in Cornwall until 1962. His new design of 4-4-0 of 1877 was less successful and led to his replacement by William Adams in November 1877. Beattie went into business in London and died at Putney on 19 February 1918.