Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/527

 Williams, Right Rev. William, D.C.L., first Bishop of Waiapu, N.Z., was the fourth son of the late Thomas Williams and younger brother of Archdeacon (q.v.). He was born at Nottingham, England, on July 18th, 1800, and was educated at a Moravian school at Fairfield, near Manchester, and at the Southwell Grammar School. He was intended for the medical profession, and was actually articled to a surgeon. He, however, decided to take holy orders, and leaving Southwell in 1822, proceeded to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1824, being ordained deacon and priest the same year. In 1826 he emigrated to New Zealand under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, having previously further qualified himself for missionary life in the bush by walking the London hospitals, and thus acquiring surgical experience prior to his departure. In association with his brother and the Rev., he was active in obtaining Maori signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In 1843 he was appointed Archdeacon of Waiapu by Bishop Selwyn. In Dec. 1850 the University of Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L., and in April 1859 he was consecrated first Bishop of Waiapu, a position which he resigned shortly before his death. Bishop Williams compiled a "Dictionary of the New Zealand Language" (1849, second edition 1858), and wrote "Christianity amongst the New Zealanders" (1867). In 1826 the Bishop translated a portion of Genesis into Maori. In 1844 he revised the Maori Prayer-book in conjunction with Messrs. Maunsell and Puckey. He also, with the help of several coadjutors, revised the Maori Old Testament in 1847 and the New Testament in 1867. Bishop Williams, who married Miss Jane Nelson, died at Napier on March 26th, 1876.

Williamson, James Cassius, was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on August 26th, 1845. Up to 1871 Mr. Williamson worked hard as a humble member of Wallack's Theatre, New York. In that year he accepted an engagement as principal comedian in the California Theatre, San Francisco, and in 1873 married Miss Maggie Moore, a member of the company. In 1875 began the Australian career of this talented couple, at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, under the management of Messrs., Harwood, Stewart & Co. While "starring" during this celebrated Australian engagement, Mr. Williamson showed his general capacity as a comedian and character actor, and his performance of Dion Boucicault's Kerry was regarded as an artistic triumph by the critics and playgoing public of Melbourne and Sydney. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson, animated by their success in Australia, took Struck Oil to London, and played it for one hundred nights at the Adelphi Theatre, and then "starred" for two years in their native America. In 1879 they returned to Australia, and in 1882 Mr. Williamson joined Mr. and Mr. Musgrove in forming their powerful managerial combination. Since then Mr. Williamson has appeared in the dual capacity of actor and manager, and has made more than one business trip to England and America. He and his partners have spared no expense or trouble in introducing dramatic and operatic novelties, and in securing first-class actors and singers for their various theatres. The expenditure involved in such an undertaking would probably astound the English no less than the colonial public. The managerial "trio" has recently broken up by the retirement of Mr. Musgrove, a nephew of the late William Saurin Lyster. But they have displayed unequalled enterprise for the past eight years in the importation of so many London plays and operas—including the whole range of Gilbert and Sullivan opera—and of performers such as Miss Geneviève Ward and Mr. W. H. Vernon, Mr. Charles Warner, Mr. J. L. Toole and Company, Miss Nellie Farren, Mr. Fred Leslie, and the Gaiety Company, and others too numerous to specify; while Mr. Williamson is now promising his patrons a visit from Madame Sarah Bernhardt, and had already purchased, before its London production, Sir Arthur Sullivan's Ivanhoe. In other words, the dramatic and operatic amusements of Australia have been placed by this firm fairly on a level with those of London, Paris and New York—a fact further emphasised by the erection of the palatial Princess's Theatre in Spring Street, facing the Houses of Parliament, which is fitted with every modern contrivance of comfort and luxury, including a "movable roof" for the summer season.

Williamson, John, in conjunction with 511