Born at Finchley, the nephew of B.S.Williams, author of several books on plants including the Orchid Growers Manual. His first interest was in the Lepidoptera ,of which he formed a good collection, but after the First World War, in which he received a serious head injury, he turned his attention to Coleoptera. Following a meeting with Philip Harwood at the Verrall Supper in 1924 the two became firm friends and often collected together travelling as far as the Scottish Highlands. From 1931 Williams turned his attention mainly to the Hemiptera. He married Olive Kingsbury and they had a single child Brenda who married Charles Mackechnie-Jarvis. Among his other interests was philately and the growing of cacti. Four of the species described by Williams are now considered junior synonyms of older names but Atheta harwoodi, Gyrophaena williamsi and G. munsteri still stand.. The holotypes of the species described by Williams are in the NHM. At one time he had in his possession the F.Bates collection which he passed to the Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden together with many specimens of his own after keeping ‘the pick’ of the specimens for himself. His collection (including the Bates’ specimens) was purchased by Liverpool Museum (42-13). A folder of ms material accompanying it includes a letter from Harry Britten to Dr Allan at the Museum ‘Have just had the offer of B.S.Williams Coleoptera collection... My friend E.C.Bedwell has seen Mrs Williams and tells me she appears inclined to entertain the idea of them going to Liverpool for say £50 I knew many of Williams smaller beetles as we did an extensive correspondence over many of them, he added many species to the British list and the greater part of his smaller beetles have been dissected...’ Other notes in this folder by Ian Wallace indicate: that Britten worked on the collection; that the main period covered is 1924-30 but that specimens from other collectors including Joy, Fowler, Donisthorpe, Newbery, and Sharp fall outside those dates; that his major interest was the Staphylinidae, particularly Atheta; and that F.Balfour Browne, Deville, Britten, Gridelli, Strand and others all made determinations for him. There is also a note by P.F.Lingwood dated 1976 which states that Williams was unfamiliar with the concept of types. Four collecting diaries covering the periods May 1909 -1914, September 1921 - August 1923, September 1923 - May 1926 and May 1926 – 1931 are also at Liverpool. I have also seen specimens collected by Williams in the Museum at Cambridge. There is an obituary by Philip Harwood in EMM., 77, 1941, p.93. (MD 12/04)
Dates
13 April 1891 – 12 February 1941