1802-1865

De­cem­ber 12, 1802, Cwm­cyn­fel­in, Car­di­gan­shire, Wales.

May 1, 1865, Stinch­combe, Glou­ces­ter­shire, Eng­land.

Stinch­combe, Glou­ces­ter­shire, Eng­land.

portrait

Tutored by an Eng­lish cler­gy­man, Wil­liams de­vel­oped a fond­ness for La­tin po­et­ry. He be­came so pro­fi­cient in La­tin that he ac­tu­al­ly be­gan to think in it, and when writ­ing was some­times obliged to trans­late his ideas from La­tin to Eng­lish. In 1812, he en­tered Trin­i­ty Coll­ege, Ox­ford, and two years lat­er won the un­i­ver­si­ty’s prize for La­tin verse. This fact be­came a turn­ing point in his ca­reer, as it brought him in­to con­tact with John Keble, who took on Wil­liams as a sort of pro­té­gé. In 1829, Wil­liams was or­dained as Cur­ate of Win­drush, a few miles from Fair­ford, where Ke­ble lived. How­ev­er, Wil­liams soon won a Trin­i­ty Fel­low­ship and re­turned to Ox­ford, where he met John Newman. He be­came New­man’s Cur­ate at St. Mary’s, Ox­ford, where he stayed un­til 1842, when he be­came Cur­ate at Bis­ley. He moved to Stinch­combe in 1848, where he lived in re­tire­ment for ma­ny years, de­vot­ing him­self to lit­er­ary work. Wil­liams’ works in­clude:

  1. Another Day Is Past and Gone
  2. Be Thou My Guard­i­an and My Guide
  3. Child Leans on Its Par­ent’s Breast, The
  4. Christ’s Ev­er­last­ing Mess­en­gers
  5. High Priest Once a Year, The
  6. How Sol­emn, Si­lent, and How Still
  7. Jesus, Most Lov­ing Lord
  8. Lo! from the De­sert Homes
  9. Lord, in This Thy Mer­cy’s Day
  10. Lord, Thou Dost Ab­hor the Proud
  11. Members of Christ Are We
  1. Disposer Su­preme, and Judge of the Earth
  2. First of Mar­tyrs, Thou Whose Name
  3. Great Mov­er of All Hearts
  4. Morn of Morns, and Day of Days
  5. Not by the Mar­tyr’s Death Alone
  6. O Hea­ven­ly Je­ru­sa­lem
  7. O Word of God Above
  8. Our Lord the Path of Suf­fer­ing Trod
  9. Sol­diers Who to Christ Be­long
  10. Word Is Giv­en, the Wa­ters Flow, The