William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey

William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey (1119 – 6 January 1148) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who fought in England during the Anarchy and generally remained loyal to King Stephen. He participated in the Second Crusade.

He was the eldest son of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (d.1138) by his wife Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was a great-grandson of King Henry I of France, and half-brother to Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, Waleran IV de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, and Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford.

Still in his minority in 1137 he was serving with Stephen, King of England in Normandy being one of those young nobles who initially fled the battle. Stephen pursued them, held them and did his best to pacify them but did not make them fight. At his father's death in 1138, William became the third Earl of Surrey. At Easter 1138 he accompanied his half-brother Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester on an embassy to Paris for the purpose of ratifying a treaty between the English and French kings. On February 2nd 1141 he and his half-brother Waleran were again with King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln but fled at the initial charge of the enemy forces. They both joined Queen Matilda but on King Stephen's release they were once again among his followers, and William witnessed a royal charter at Canterbury in late 1141.

With his brother Ralph, William was a joint donor in numerous charters issued by his parents and was a witness to his father's charter, all to Longueville Priory near Rouen, Normandy (between 1130 and 1138). He was also a donor with his brother and both parents to the priory of Bellencombre (also near Rouen) in 1135. William was also the primary donor in a number of charters after his father died, between 1138 and 1147.One of particular instance occurred during a livery of seisin in 1147. At that event, William gave a large gift to the Lewes Priory which was secured with a lock of hair from his own and from his brother Ralph's head cut by Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, before the altar of the priory church. Lewes Priory had been founded by William's grandparents, William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, and his wife Gundrada, probably in 1081.

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