Died at his seat, Sydenham House, outside of Kelso towards Ednam, Roxburghshire. Brother to Adm. Sir Archibald Dickson and Maj-Gen. John Dickson. He also had two other sons of note: Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson, who succeeded his uncle to the Baronetcy; and Maj-Gen. Alexander Dickson who gained renown as the Duke of Wellington's artillery commander during the Peninsula War. Admiral William Dickson was married twice; first to Jane Collingwood, whose younger sister Elizabeth married his brother Maj-Gen. John Dickson. Jane died in 1782. William then married Elizabeth Mary Chartres (Charters) who survived her husband and died in 1828. Her eldest son, James Charters Dickson, was a surgeon in the Royal Navy. James' son, George Jeffrey Dickson, emigrated to Australia.

DIED.

On Wednesday fe'nnight, at Sydenham House, near Kelso, Admiral William Dickson, aged 74. [Carlisle Journal - Saturday 28 May 1803, p.3]

William Dickson was commissioned lieutenant on 31 December 1755, having passed his lieutenant's exam on 6 December 1751. He received his first command on 10 May 1765 of the Swallow (10). On 2 May 1766 he was posted captain of the Jersey (60). He served in the Mediterranean for the usual period of three years prior to being paid off in December 1769. He remained unemployed for the next ten years until appointed to succeed his brother in command of the Greyhound (28) on 25 September 1779. The Greyhound sailed from Portsmouth at the end of the year with Admiral Sir George Rodney's fleet and although detached with the West Indian trade and transports on 4 January 1780, Dickson was present at the Battle of Martinique 17 April 1780. The homeward-bound voyage coincided with the Great Hurricanes during October that decimated the fleet, so that by the time the Conqueror reached Portsmouth on 15 November she only had in company the Magnificent (74) and thirty vessels from the convoy. In the late spring of 1781 Dickson was appointed to the newly commissioned Sampson (64) and was employed in the North Sea under Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker. Dickson left her in January 1782 as he was appointed in September to the new Standard (64) which was being built at Deptford, and which was launched in early October. Once fitted out she began guard ship service at Plymouth, which was largely uneventful. His last command was Gibraltar (80) to which he was appointed on 6 October 1790 and which lasted two months. Dickson was promoted Rear-Admiral of the Blue on 1 February 1793 (thence to same rank of the White on 12 April 1794), Vice-Admiral of the Blue on 4 July 1794 (thence to same rank of the White on 1 June 1795), and Admiral of the Blue on 14 February 1799. He died at his seat, Sydenham House, at Kelso, Roxburghshire in 1803.