mingham, named Howell. In 1752 he became minister of a congregation at Stamford in Lincolnshire, and in 1755 removed to another charge at Wokingham in Berkshire. Here he completed a work which had cost him many years' labour, ‘A Concordance to the Greek New Testament, with an English Version to each Word, and short Critical Notes’ (London, 1767, 4to), which seventy-two years later was superseded by a similar compilation by George Vicesimus Wigram [see under Wigram, Joseph Cotton]. The ‘Short Critical Notes’ were chiefly furnished by Gregory Sharpe [q. v.] In 1767 Williams removed to Sydenham as minister to the congregation there, remaining till 1795, when, finding his congregation decreasing and the lease of the chapel having expired, he resigned the pastorate and spent the remainder of his life at Islington. In 1791 and 1792 he wrote two treatises on the Welsh tradition concerning the discovery of America, which by the interest they aroused may have stimulated Southey to write his poem ‘Madoc.’ Williams died on 15 April 1798 at his house in Canonbury Row, Islington.
Besides the ‘Concordance’ and several sermons, Williams, who had received the degree of LL.D., was the author of: 1. ‘A Free Enquiry into the Authenticity of the First and Second Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel,’ London, 1771, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1789. The ‘Enquiry’ drew forth several replies, including one by Charles Bulkley [q. v.], and another by William Magee [q. v.] in the second volume of his ‘Discourses on the Scriptural Doctrine of the Atonement,’ 1801. 2. ‘An Address to the Opposers of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers' Application for Relief in the Matter of Subscription,’ London, 1772, 8vo. 3. ‘Thoughts on the Origin and on the most Rational and Natural Method of Teaching the Languages,’ London, 1783, 8vo. 4. ‘An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition concerning the Discovery of America by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd,’ London, 1791, 8vo. 5. ‘Further Observations on the Discovery of America by Prince Madog, with an Account of a Welsh Tribe of Indians,’ London, 1792, 8vo. 6. ‘Clerical Reform, or England's Salvation,’ London, 1792, 4to. 7. ‘Remarks on Dr. W. Bell's Arguments for the Authenticity of the two First Chapters of Matthew and Luke,’ London, 1796, 8vo.
[Cambrian Register, iii. 190; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, 1852; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Gent. Mag. 1798, i. 540; Winsor's Hist. of America, i. 210.]
WILLIAMS, JOHN (1757–1810), lawyer, born at Job's Well, near Carmarthen, on 12 Sept. 1757, was the son of Thomas Williams of that town. He was educated at the grammar school of Carmarthen, matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford, on 19 Feb. 1773, migrated to Wadham College on 29 Sept., and was admitted a scholar on 23 Sept. 1774, graduating B.A. on 17 Oct. 1776 and M.A. on 11 July 1781. He was elected a fellow of Wadham on 30 June 1780. He filled the office of librarian in 1781 and 1782, and of humanity lecturer in 1782, and resigned his fellowship on 30 June 1792. He began his work, the study of law, as a student of the Middle Temple. He became a pupil of (Sir) George Wood [q. v.], at that time well known as a special pleader, and, after successfully practising as a special pleader on his own account, he was called to the bar by the benchers of the Inner Temple on 23 Nov. 1784. He went the Oxford and ‘Old Carmarthen’ circuits, the Oxford ending by arrangement before the ‘Old Carmarthen’ began. On 21 June 1794 he became a serjeant-at-law, and in 1804 a king's serjeant.
In conjunction with Richard Burn [q. v.] Williams brought out the tenth edition of Sir William Blackstone's ‘Commentaries’ (London, 4 vols. 8vo) in 1787, and the eleventh edition in 1791. Between 1799 and 1802 he also prepared the third edition of Sir Edmund Saunders's ‘Reports of Cases and Pleadings in the Court of King's Bench in the Reign of Charles II’ (London, 2 vols. 8vo), adding notes and references. His notes were highly valued and established the fame of the compilation. They ‘contained a lucid and accurate statement of the common law in almost every branch, more particularly as regards pleading.’ They were included in the editions of 1824 and 1845, and were issued separately with additions and an abridgment of the cases in 1871 by his son, Sir Edward Vaughan Williams.
Williams died in London, at Queen's Square, on 27 Sept. 1810. In 1789 he married Mary, eldest daughter of Charles Clarke of Foribridge, near Stafford. By her he had three sons—Charles; Sir Edward Vaughan, who is separately noticed; and John, a colonel in the royal engineers—and three daughters, of whom Mary was married to August Edward Hobart, sixth earl of Buckinghamshire.
[Woolrych's Lives of Eminent Serjeants, 1869, ii. 680–700; Law Mag. 1845, new ser. ii. 305–7; Gent. Mag. 1810, ii. 392; Gardiner's Reg. of Wadham College, 1895, ii. 141; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886.]
