WILLIAMS
,
Sir
WILLIAM
(
1634
-
1700
),
lawyer and politician
;
eldest son of
Hugh
Williams
,
D.D.
(
1596
-
1670
),
rector
of
Llantrisant
and
Llanrhuddlad
,
Anglesey
(
Willis
,
Bangor
, 170-1;
Pryce
,
Diocese of Bangor in Sixteenth Century
, 41, 43, 44;
Anglesey Inventory
, 114). Educated at
Jesus College
and
Gray's Inn
(admitted
1650
), he was
called to the Bar
in
1658
, becoming
treasurer
of
Gray's Inn
in
1681
.
Recorder
of
Chester
from
1667 to 1684
, he was elected
Member of Parliament
for the borough in
1675
(having unsuccessfully contested the seat in
1672
). Attaching himself to the country party, he opposed the extension of the royal prerogative, affected to believe in the
Popish Plot
, supported the
Exclusion Bill
, and was elected
speaker
of the
House of Commons
in
James
II
's second
Parliament
in
1680
and again in the
Oxford Parliament
of
1681
. In
1684
, his enemy,
George
Jeffreys
(q.v.)
, instigated an action against him for having, as
speaker
, authorised, in
1680
, the publication of
Thomas
Dangerfield
's libellous
Narrative
, and in
1686
he was fined £10,000 by the
Court of King's Bench
. He thereupon changed sides, made his peace with
James
II
, and was appointed
solicitor-general
, and
knighted
in
1687
. He incurred great odium by prosecuting the seven bishops in
1688
; he received a
baronetcy
for his services. Changing sides again at the
Revolution
of
1688
, he was elected
Member of Parliament
for
Beaumaris
to the
Convention Parliament
(
1689-90
), and helped to draft the
Bill of Rights
. Although he lost the office of
solicitor-general
, he was made
King's Counsel
in
Oct. 1689
and the
queen's solicitor-general
in
1692
. With
Robert
Price
of
Giler
(q.v.)
and other
Welsh
members he successfully opposed the proposed grant by
William
III
of the lordships of
Denbigh
,
Bromfield
, and
Yale
to the
earl of Portland
. Elected
Member of Parliament
for
Beaumaris
,
1695
, he d.
11 July 1700
. He m.,
1664
,
Margaret
, daughter and heiress of
Watkin
Kyffin
of
Glascoed
,
Denbigh
,
and in
1665
he purchased
Llanforda
from
Edward
Lloyd
.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1949
, 76;
-
The National Library of Wales Journal
, vi, 253;
-
J. E. Griffith
,
Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire
Families
, 1914
, 18-19;
-
W. R. Williams
,
The History of the Parliamentary
Representation of Wales
, 1895
, 11.
His' younger son,
JOHN
WILLIAMS
(d.
1738
), entered
Gray's Inn
in
1679
, was
called to the Bar
in
1686
, and was appointed
attorney-general
of
Denbighshire
and
Montgomery
,
1702
, and of
Chester
and
Flint
,
1727
. On his marriage to
Catherine
, daughter of
Sir
Hugh
Owen
,
bt.
, of
Orielton
, his father's possessions in
Anglesey
and
Bodelwyddan
(
Flints.
) were settled upon him. His eldest son,
HUGH
WILLIAMS
(
1695
-
1742
) was
Member of Parliament
for
Anglesey
,
1725-34
; the third son,
JOHN
WILLIAMS
(
1700
-
1787
), entered
Gray's Inn
in
1718
, and was
called to the Bar
in
1725
. He succeeded his father as
attorney-general
of
Chester
,
Flint
,
Denbigh
, and
Montgomery
(
1738-55
), was
deputy chief-justice
of the
Carmarthen circuit
(
1749-57
), and
chief justice
of
Brecknock
from
1755
until his death on
25 April 1787
.
Bibliography:
-
Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian
Society and Field Club
,
1930
, 65;
-
W. R. Williams
,
The History of the Parliamentary
Representation of Wales
, 1895
;
-
id.,
The history of the Great Sessions in Wales,
1542-1830 together with the lives of the Welsh judges, and
annotated lists of the chamberlains and chancellors,
attorney generals, and prothonotaries of the four circuits
of Chester and Wales
, Brecknock, 1899
;, 81, 147.
Author:
Professor Glyn Roberts, M.A., (1904-1962), Bangor
