Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/402

 gentlemen's seats, and the monuments in the county. He was also a good classical scholar and botanist.

Williams gave considerable assistance to John Brickdale Blakeway in his ‘Sheriffs of Shropshire’ and ‘History of Shrewsbury,’ and to Archdeacon Joseph Plymley in his ‘Agricultural Survey of Shropshire.’ During the latter years of his life Williams discontinued his antiquarian pursuits, and devoted himself entirely to his parochial duties. He died unmarried at his residence, Coton Terrace, Shrewsbury, on 3 Jan. 1833, and was buried on 10 Jan. in Battlefield churchyard, on the south side of the church.

Williams left numerous manuscripts relating to his researches in Shropshire, and most of them passed at his death to William Noel-Hill, third lord Berwick. Almost all Williams's manuscripts in Lord Berwick's collection were dispersed by sale in 1843. Two of Williams's manuscripts, now in the British Museum Library (Add. MSS. 21236 and 21237), contain drawings of monuments and inscriptions, from Shropshire churches, 1792–1803, with indexes.

Seven volumes of his manuscripts, which passed from Lord Berwick's possession to that of Sir Thomas Phillipps, were purchased at Sir Thomas Phillipps's sale on 20 May 1897 for the Shrewsbury Free Library; these are a transcript of the cartulary of Haughmond Abbey, with an index of names and places; historical, topographical, and genealogical collections relating to Shropshire (4 vols. fol.); and collections (2 vols. fol.) for the ‘History of Shropshire.’ Other volumes of Williams's manuscripts were: a transcript of the cartulary of Shrewsbury Abbey, with an index of names and places; transcripts from 154 Shropshire parish registers; a volume of monumental inscriptions, notes of effigies, and extracts from records; and a list of Shropshire plants.

[Gent. Mag. 1833, i. 182–3, ii. 155; Some Account of the Life and Character of the late Rev. Edward Williams, 1833; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Foster's Index Eccles. p. 191; Fletcher's Battlefield Church, p. 25; Leighton and Battlefield Parish Registers; Eddowes's Salopian Journal, 9 Jan. 1833; Shrewsbury Chronicle, 11 and 18 Jan. 1833.]  WILLIAMS, EDWARD ELLIKER (1793–1822), the friend of Shelley, was born on 27 April 1793. His father, a merchant chiefly resident in India, died before his son attained his majority. Williams was for a short time at Eton, and on leaving entered the navy, but about 1811 obtained a cavalry commission in the East India Company's service, and spent several years in India. Possessing talent as a draughtsman, he devoted much of his spare time to making drawings of Indian scenery and architecture, most of which are still preserved. On or just before his return he united himself to the lady afterwards celebrated in Shelley's verse, and in 1820, perhaps in consequence of losses sustained by the failure of an Indian bank, took up his residence with her at Geneva, where he renewed acquaintance with a brother Indian officer, Thomas Medwin [q. v.], a kinsman and acquaintance of Shelley. Edward John Trelawny [q. v.] joined their circle, and Medwin's stories of Shelley made him and Williams resolve to seek the poet out. The Williamses arrived at Pisa in the summer of 1821, and soon became intimate with the Shelleys. Many of Shelley's later poems are addressed to Jane Williams; and Williams co-operated in Shelley's pursuits, writing down a translation of Spinoza from Shelley's dictation, copying his 'Hellas' for the press, and even composing a tragedy under his tutorship. He is the ‘Melchior’ of Shelley's ‘Boat on the Serchio.’ His previous experience in the navy combined with Shelley's passion for the sea to effect the construction of the ill-starred yacht Don Juan, in which both perished on their return from Leghorn to Lerici, 8 July 1822 [see ]. Williams left a son, afterwards employed in the home service of the East India Company, and a daughter, married to a son of Leigh Hunt. Both had children, now living. Williams's body was cremated in the same manner as Shelley's; the ashes, preserved by his widow during her protracted life, were, by her direction, interred with her own remains in Kensal Green cemetery.

[Biographies of Shelley, Dowden, Medwin, and Trelawny; private information.] 

WILLIAMS, EDWARD VAUGHAN (1797–1875), judge, born in 1797 at Queen's Square, Bayswater, was the eldest surviving son of Serjeant John Williams (1757–1810) [q. v.] He was educated first at Winchester, entering the school in 1808, but was removed thence to Westminster school in 1811; here he proved himself an apt classic. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a scholar in 1816, and thence graduated B.A. 1820 and M.A. 1824. On leaving Cambridge Williams entered Lincoln's Inn as a student, and, after reading in the chambers of Patteson and Campbell, was called to the bar on 17 June