William Goldring was born in May 1854 at West Dean, near Chichester. He ran the herbaceous department at Kew Gardens from 1875-79. After this time, he was assistant editor of The Garden and editor of Woods and Forests between 1879 and 1886.
He set up as a landscape architect in 1887. His first work of significance in this capacity was at Earl's Court, where he created the Exhibition Grounds from the previous area of market gardens. He gained such recognition for this work that he was recommended to undertake the commission for the new Italian Gardens at Makurpuri in Gujurat, India. Other work abroad included a commission at Chateau Laversine, south-west France for Baron Rothschild.
In England, he is associated with work on more than 700 projects. Of particular note is his work at Napsbury, around 1902, a site which remains largely unchanged. This was laid out in an informal style featuring both native and exotic species, and retaining a number of mature trees already on the site.
Goldring's work included private houses, asylums and public parks. He was President of the Kew Guild in 1914 and remained on the committee at Kew until his death in 1919.