William Perceval (Birth Unknown - Death, 4th Jan 1899) was the son of Captain Perceval of Woodville near Maryborough, also owner of a Kilkenny estate, both of which William inherited. His uncle was Robert Perceval (1756-1839), a notable Dublin doctor who was a founder member and the first secretary of the Royal Irish Academy, and the first professor of chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin. The Percevals were descendants of Richard
Perceval (1558-1620) of Sydenham, Somerset an English administrator and lexicographer sent to Ireland in 1616 as clerk of the Court of Wards, from whom the Perceval Earls of Egmont also descended. William Perceval had been elected to the position of Medical Officer of the Stradbally Dispensary District within the Athy Union in 1847, a position which he held until his retirement in 1889. Perceval remained a bachelor and during his forty years as Medical Officer he lived in the dispensary house on the northwestern corner of the Market Square, close the spot where the Market House was later erected to his memory. The Market House bears a large engraved stone shield on the street-facing side bearing the following inscription:
In Memory of / William Perceval Esq. MD / who died Jany 4th 1899 / This Market Place / has been erected by his friends / as a token of the affection / and esteem in which he was held / by all classes / during the 54 years that / he practised in Stradbally / and to perpetuate the memory / of his unselfish devotion / to duty, his large charity / and his bright and kindly disposition / August 1899
