William Perfect (1734-1809) was a British surgeon, obstetrician, early psychiatrist, pioneer of humane treatment of mental illnesss, Freemason, and poet.He was born in Oxford, England, the son of William Perfect (1712-1757), a clergyman of Huguenot extraction who was vicar of East Malling, Kent, from 1745. In 1749, Perfect apprenticed under William Everred, a London surgeon, for seven years and attended lectures by Colin MacKenzie, a Scottish obstetrician.