sale of 36,000 copies. Lord Shaftesbury [see Cooper, Anthony Ashley, seventh Earl of Shaftesbury], with whom Williams became closely associated, accepted the presidency in 1851. The work spread to the continent and the colonies, and in 1855 Williams was present at the first international conference of Young Men's Christian Associations held in Paris, where representatives of similar organisations in Europe and America agreed on the terms of the ‘Paris basis,’ on which a world-wide society was built up.
Up to 1864 its undenominational constitution and its sometimes narrow views about recreation and amusements hampered the association's development. But Williams's directness of purpose gradually overcame all difficulties. In 1880 he contrived the purchase of the lease of Exeter Hall, where the Association had often met, for the headquarters of the association, when there was danger of the hall becoming a place of amusement. Within forty-eight hours he raised 25,000l. giving 5000l. himself and securing four other gifts of like amount; he afterwards raised a further 20,000l. for the equipment of the building. Exeter Hall remained the association's headquarters till its demolition in 1907. During 1909–11 an enormous block of buildings was erected as a memorial to Williams for the offices of the association in Tottenham Court Road; the edifice was opened in 1912.
On Lord Shaftesbury's death, Williams was elected president (18 April 1886). In June 1894 the jubilee of the Y.M.C.A. institution was celebrated in London, when Queen Victoria knighted Williams on the recommendation of the prime minister, Lord Rosebery, and the freedom of the City of London was conferred on him. By that period there were some four hundred branches of the association in England, Ireland, and Wales, and over two hundred in Scotland, with a total membership of nearly 150,000. In America the institution struck even deeper roots. There the association had nearly 2000 branches with a membership exceeding 450,000. In Germany there were over 2000 branches with a membership of 120,000. Apart from the association's flourishing development in all the British dominions and in almost all the countries of Europe, branches had been formed in Japan, China, and Korea.
In April 1905 Williams was present at the jubilee of the world's alliance of Y.M.C.A.s in Paris. He died at Torquay, on 6 Nov. 1905, being buried in the crypt of St. Paul's, where there is a memorial.
Among numerous societies in which Williams was interested and which he generously aided with money were, apart from the Young Men's Christian Association, the Bible Society, the London City Mission, the Religious Tract Society, the Early Closing Association, and the Commercial Travellers' Christian Association.
By his marriage on 9 June 1853, with Helen Hitchcock, who survived him, he had five sons, and one daughter, who died aged nineteen. His son Mr. Howard Williams inherited his father's philanthropic and religious interests, and is treasurer of Dr. Barnardo's Homes.
A portrait of Williams by the Hon. John Collier was presented to Mrs. Williams in 1887 by the staff of Hitchcock, Williams & Co., to commemorate the firm's jubilee.
[J. E. Hodder Williams, The Life of Sir George Williams, 1906 (several good portraits); The Times, 7 Nov. 1905; private information.]
WILLIAMS, HUGH (1843–1911), ecclesiastical historian, son of Hugh Williams (d. 1905, aged ninety-two), carrier and small freeholder, of Menai Bridge, Anglesey, by his wife Jane, was born at Porthaethwy in Anglesey on 17 Sept. 1843. He got his schooling in his native village and at Bangor, and for some years worked as a mason, at the same time continuing his studies. In 1864 he entered at the Calvinistic Methodist College, Bala, where he acted (1867–9) as one of the tutors. He graduated B.A. London in 1870 (first in second class honours in classics); M.A. London in 1871 (second in philosophy honours). He then conducted a grammar school at Menai Bridge, at the same time ministering to calvinistic methodists in Anglesey, and was ordained without charge (1873) in the presbyterian church of Wales. Appointed professor of Greek and mathematics at Bala in August 1873, he entered on his duties in the following year. In the vacation of 1874 he visited Germany for the study of the language. When the Bala College became purely theological (1891), he was appointed professor of church history. In 1903 he was moderator of the North Wales assembly of the presbyterian church. On 19 April 1904 he received the degree of D.D. in Glasgow University. His ‘high-pitched industry’ told upon his health; he was for some time troubled with a form of laryngitis. In addition to his other work he preached every Sunday, though not reckoned a popular preacher, and conducted a weekly
