alia a translation of Pope's ‘Messiah.’ 2. ‘Drych Barddonol,’ Carnarvon, 1837, 12mo, a work on Welsh prosody. 3. ‘Gramadeg Cymreig,’ Cardiff, 1851, 12mo, a Welsh grammar, being practically the third edition, considerably enlarged, of a similar work published in 1822 and 1830. 4. ‘Caniadau Caledfryn,’ Llanrwst, 1856, 12mo, a collection of his later poetry. He also published a collection of hymns (1860), and edited the works of two minor poets, Robert ab Gwilym Ddu and John Thomas of Pentre Foelas, in 1841 and 1845 respectively. His autobiography (‘Cofiant Caledfryn,’ Bala, 8vo), with additional chapters contributed by various writers and a selection of his unpublished poetry and his portrait, was issued in 1877 under the editorship of Thomas Roberts (‘Scorpion’).
[His autobiography, as mentioned above; Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru, ii. 389–96, iii. 240; Foulkes's Enwogion Cymru, p. 1111; Ashton's Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, pp. 674–679; Gwyddoniadur Cymreig (Encyclopædia Cambrensis), x. 206–14.]
WILLIAMS, Sir WILLIAM FENWICK, (1800–1883), baronet, ‘of Kars,’ general, second son of Commissary-general Thomas Williams, barrack-master at Halifax, Nova Scotia, by his wife Maria, daughter of Captain Thomas Walker, was born at Annapolis, Nova Scotia, on 4 Dec. 1800. He entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich on 23 May 1815, and received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 14 July 1825. The long interval between leaving Woolwich and obtaining his commission, due to the reduction of the army on its return from the occupation of France, was passed in travel. His further commissions were dated: lieutenant, 16 Nov. 1827; second captain, 13 Aug. 1840; first captain, 26 Feb. 1846; brevet major, 22 May 1846; brevet lieutenant-colonel, 31 March 1848; regimental lieutenant-colonel, 18 Sept. 1853; brevet colonel, 28 Nov. 1854; major-general, 2 Nov. 1855; colonel-commandant of royal artillery, 10 Dec. 1864; lieutenant-general, 15 Dec. 1864; general, 2 Aug. 1868.
The early part of Williams's career was passed uneventfully at Gibraltar, Ceylon, and some home stations until 1841, when he went to Turkey with Captain (now General Sir) Collingwood Dickson, for employment in the arsenal at Constantinople. He was engaged as British commissioner in the conferences preceding the treaty signed at Erzeroum in 1847, and in 1848 was appointed British commissioner for the settlement of the Turko-Persian boundary. For his services, military and diplomatic, he received two brevets and was made a companion of the order of the Bath, civil division, in 1852.
When the British army was at Varna in 1854 Williams's fourteen years' experience among the Turks, and the valuable service he had rendered, led to his selection for the post of British commissioner with the Turkish army in Anatolia. The duties of such a post are not necessarily very difficult, but had Williams confined himself to observing and reporting, the Turkish army would have melted away and Asia Minor would have been lost. He practically became commander-in-chief, and his task proved a very arduous one. He had to inspire courage and confidence in men who in the previous year had been signally defeated by the Russians at Kuruk-deri, and who were disorganised and demoralised by want of discipline, of pay, and of clothing, while the Russian general, Mouravieff, was collecting a large and well-disciplined army at Gumri.
Williams visited Kars in September 1854, and left his aide-de-camp, Captain (afterwards Sir) Christopher Charles Teesdale [q. v.], there during the winter to establish what discipline he could, and returned himself to Erzeroum, where he vainly endeavoured by strong representations to the British embassy at Constantinople and the foreign office to obtain from the Porte the urgently necessary supplies of money, ammunition, and clothing; at the same time he went energetically to work to organise both men and matériel available. Colonel (afterwards Sir) Henry Atwell Lake [q. v.] and Captain Henry Langhorne Thompson [q. v.] having arrived at Kars in the spring of 1855, Williams was able to devote his attention to the defence of Erzeroum, and as soon as the snow melted he was occupied from morning to evening in fortifying the surrounding heights.
In January 1855 Williams had been made a ferik or lieutenant-general in the Turkish army, and also a pasha, which facilitated his task. On 1 June information reached Erzeroum of the movement of the Russian army on Kars, whither Williams immediately went, arriving on the 7th, when he reviewed the troops and inspected the defences. The Russians, twenty-five thousand strong, attacked early on the morning of the 16th, and were repulsed. They succeeded, however, in establishing a blockade of the fortress a few days later, and on 7 Aug. again made an unsuccessful attack. In September provisions became scarce in Kars, the weather grew cold, and towards the end of the month cholera broke out. In the early morning of
