It is believed that William Davison was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in October 1780, the son of John Davison, a joiner. Around 1795, William was apprenticed to Mr. Hind, a Newcastle chemist, moving to Alnwick in 1802 to establish his own pharmacy there. The following year he entered the first of two short-lived partnerships with local printers, but by 1808 he was a printer in his own right.

He continued to trade in Alnwick as an apothecary, pharmacist and printer from his Bondgate premises until his death in 1858. William was also fully involved in the town's public life, interested in sanitary improvements and a railway line for Alnwick, as well as standing for election as a Poor Law Guardian and subscribing to the Alnwick Dispensary and the Scientific and Mechanical Institution.